PA: Police Department Destroys $30,000 of Legal Guns

Image courtesy Abington Police

In Pennsylvania, Abington police destroyed 185 guns they had been collecting since 1998. From abingtonpd.org:

In January, 2017 Abington Police disposed of 185 guns that had accumulated in secure evidence storage since 1998. The guns were ones that had been surrendered to APD for disposal or that otherwise could not be returned to a qualified owner. The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office obtained a court order for APD authorizing the disposal of these guns and on January 26, 2017 these guns were disposed of under the watchful eyes of Abington Police Evidence Custodians. The guns were taken to a foundry where they were first put through a shredding process and then the remnants were melted down in a high temperature furnace. 

Too bad the guns were not sold to fund police requirements.  The guns would have fetched about $25,000 at auction.  There appear to be only a couple of guns that had been illegally shortened. There are a couple of decent classic lever actions, one AK clone, and quite a few decent pistols, including what appears to be a scoped Smith & Wesson 629.  There are lots of hunting rifles and shotguns.

These guns were collected over 18 years.  That comes to about 10 guns a year, or less than a gun a month. Most of them were likely turned in by widows or other inheritors of an estate who did not know what to do with them.  The rest were probably recovered as stolen guns that could not be traced back to legitimate owners.

The news release pointedly avoided connecting the guns to any crime.

Some small number of individuals simply seem to get a psychic charge out of destroying valuable property.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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