Washington Agency Prohibited from Selling Confiscated Rifles

The Spokane (WA) Police Department will no longer be able to sell the rifles it confiscates after the Spokane City Council approved a new law requiring the department to destroy guns instead of auctioning them.

Councilwoman Candance Mumm, said police should be focusing on preventing crime and not generating revenue from confiscated fire arms sales. Citing an Associated Press investigation from earlier this year, she said many of the guns police have sold across the state have ended up as evidence in new crimes.

The Spokane Police Department has 56 guns pending auction and has sold 311 rifles in the last seven years. The City has already barred police from selling handguns and the police have destroyed 1,245 handguns or illegal firearms since 2011, the Spokesman reports.

Antique weapons and guns that have been modified or are unique in some other way are exempt from the ordinance and altered weapons may be used in police training.