Pentagon gun was from Tenn. police

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

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.

The use of guns that once were in police custody and were later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: 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 equipment such as bulletproof vests.

In fact, on the day of the Pentagon shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies 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.

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Pentagon gun was from Tenn. police

I have never been one to believe that the gun used in a crime, once in the hands of police and the courts system, needs to be, or should be destroyed. A gun is a tool. A farm tractor is a tool.

I know of many cases where people have been hurt or killed by farm tractors. I can’t recall a case where a farm tractor was destroyed because it had hurt or killed a human.

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.

I wrote about that story when it came out, Gun laws are getting looser across much of US. At the time, it didn’t seem to generate too much interest with my readers, but here’s what’s happening, and folks need to pay attention, groups like the AP are obviously anti-gun and have a tendency to lean pretty far to the left on gun issues. They are building a case against guns as their story progresses.

It’s up to folks like me to write the truth about guns. It’s up to folks like you to help get the word out and tell as many people as you can, they ARE making progress in their effort to make ALL gun owners look bad. Not just the AP, but the entire Main Stream Media. The MSM.

And the MSM has support too. Powerful support.

John Timoney, who led the Philadelphia and Miami police departments and served as New York’s No. 2 police official, said he doesn’t believe police departments should be putting more guns into the market.

“I just think it’s unseemly for police departments to be selling guns that later turn up,” he said, recalling that he had once been offered the chance to sell guns to raise money for the police budget.

“Obviously, we always need the money but I just said, ‘No, we will take the loss and get rid of the guns’,” said the former police chief, who now works for Andrews International, a security consulting firm.

So John, do YOU believe that the GUN is a criminal? Why not recycle the gun? Why not put it back into the public realm? If GUN LAWS worked like they were supposed to work, those guns would have NO CHANCE of finding their way back into the hands of criminals and crazy people! Isn’t that the premise of the instant background checks that ALL dealers have to run?

If police departments want to sell used weapons, or weapons that have been confiscated due to the action(s) of the owner, but are otherwise LEGAL, and sell them to a licensed gun dealer, why should the onus of that guns future use be an unseemly matter for the police departments?

If you haven’t noticed John, we’re in a huge financial mess right now. City, county/parish and state budgets are being cut. Drastic cuts are being implemented. Law enforcement, and other public services are taking some serious hits right about now.

One example, Fewer Tulsa police officers than expected laid off. Fewer? ANY is too many!

Another example, Sixty-Seven Cleveland Police Officers Laid Off. All told, that layoff affected 160 Cleveland firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians.

Now John, tell me again just WHY it is unseemly for police departments to LEGALLY sell legal guns to licensed gun dealers in an effort to generate some operating capital.

This story from AP goes on to tell the reader all about how the guns changed hands over the course of time. How they made their way to dealers in various states and so forth. What the article doesn’t tell you is, how did these guns end up in the hands of a mentally deficient doper.

Rich Wyatt, a former police chief in Alma, Colo., who now operates a gun store - and who has bought weapons from police agencies - defended the practice of police selling guns.

“Maybe if they put the money they made selling the guns into training those officers better, they’d be better off,” said Wyatt. “Nobody ever, ever questions selling a car that was used in a crime. I am sad that officers were shot, but I don’t care where the guns came from. To say we need to chase guns is not the issue, we need to chase people.”

That last paragraph, that is the truth as it should be told! Guns don’t kill people. Guns in the hands of criminals and crazies kill people.

Stop the criminal, stop the crime!

We have had laws on the books for years regarding the sale of guns to the mentally unstable and the criminal element among us. We don’t need more gun laws and we don’t need to restrict the efforts of our police departments when they try to turn a dollar in an effort stay afloat! We need to enforce the laws we have and keep guns out of the wrong hands!