(GunReports.com) — A recent AP story pushed the angle that removing used police firearms from resale channels is good public policy, citing heavily criticized Miami police chief John F. Timoney as a reliable source on the topic and offering no balancing opinion.
Then the story attempted to link the resale practice as part of a trend of loosening gun laws throughout the South.
The AP angle was that used police guns resold to the private market led to two high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse. Both guns came from the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.
The story said, “Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.”
Then the story continued, “The use of guns that were once in police custody to attack police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the U.S.: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy police equipment.
“In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcementagencies in the state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version, agencies can only destroy a gun if it’s inoperable or unsafe.”Kentucky has a similar law, but it’s not clear how many other states have laws specifically designed to promote the police sale or trade of confiscated weapons.”
Had the AP asked practically anyone in the gun-wholesale business or the NSSF, they’d have learned that most state don’t regulate the practice of LE gun resale. Those decisions are usually made at the local level, and may vary inside states.
Then the story tried to associate the LE policies with many states–24, according to the story–with the general loosening of restrictions on private ownership of guns.
“A nationwide review by The Associated Press in December found that over the previous two years, 24 states — mostly in the South and West, where gun-rights advocates are particularly strong — have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. Gun rights groups are making a greater effort to pass favorable legislation in state capitals.”
This is an intellectually dishonest linkage, and was either an attempt by AP to tie improved gun rights to the two shootings or incompetent reporting. GR readers can make their own decision about which option is true.
Read the entire story here.
