Police Guns in the Hands of Criminals..

[PEMS2324]

Come on... Are you kidding with this stuff???

Watch the clip from the front page... You might have to scroll over to see it..

http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home

http://community.myfoxboston.com/blogs/Mike_Beaudet/2008/07/31/Police_guns

Police Guns
Jul 31, 2008 | 5:20 PM
Category: News

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Featured On: MyFoxBoston Earlier this year, we reported how many police departments trade in their old guns when they get new ones. The dealers then sell the police guns, and sometimes they end up in the hands of criminals.

The Boston Police Department feels strongly about the issue and does NOT trade in any of its old guns. They destroy them, instead. They think it's a way to keep the streets safer. After we raised the issue, Governor Deval Patrick's administration said it would review the contract that allows police departments to trade in their guns. The review is over, and the governor is continuing to allow police departments to trade in their guns to dealers.

What do you think? Will criminals get guns regardless of whether the police trade them in? Or should police departments not take a chance that their old guns will be involved in a crime?

 

[Raoul Duke]

I think they should keep smoking whatever they got a hold of on the last botched drug raid. They should also build long term holding facilities out of snow while they're focused on "results."

 

[BOBKATT]

The way that the Boston Police department strips it's citizens' constitutional rights, and their means of self-preservation is enough for me to suggest that the guns that are currently being used by the department are in fact already in the hands of criminals.

 

[C-pher]

Or should police departments not take a chance that their old guns will be involved in a crime?

Maybe I shouldn't recycle my milk jugs because it might be made into plastic rings for sodas that will kill birds on the beach.


We trade in our cars, should I be worried that it's going to be used in a bank robbery? Or Road Rage by someone hell bent?

Why shouldn't they be able to trade them in to get a better price on new ones?




ETA: Why are they targeting Police Guns anyway? It's the same as used guns at the shop. Someone traded it in....are they not worried that those are going to be used by a criminal? It's a bunch of crap to scare people into thinking that police are giving guns directly to the criminal.

They go to the Manufacturer, and then they go to dealers that sell them in their stores...legally.

 

[C-pher]

The way that the Boston Police department strips it's citizens' constitutional rights, and their means of self-preservation is enough for me to suggest that the guns that are currently being used by the department are in fact already in the hands of criminals.

Now you're talking!

 

[MikeH]

A collosial waste of taxpayer money.

 

[doobie]

Criminals are going to get guns no matter what the police or politicians do unless they have a radical change in current methods of crime control and punishment.

The police will get A LOT more money for trade-ins than selling them for scrap. I mean...most police issue firearms are shot what, maybe 200 times in a 5 year period?

 

[BOBKATT]

A collosial waste of taxpayer money.

Come to think of it, yeah. Those guns come out of our tax money. And for them to destroy them? That doesn't make me very happy. Atleast if they sell them they can put a dent in deval's curtain bills.

 

[hminsky]

Maybe when the police retire, they should be put to sleep, so there is no chance that they might do anything criminal?

 

[KMaurer]

Maybe if they were to sell them to licensed dealers rather than to the kid in the parked in the beemer by Washington & Green streets who offered them a better price.

Ken

 

[FunYun]

LoL, I wonder if they will stop reselling cruisers.

 

[Riverside]

The way that the Boston Police department strips it's citizens' constitutional rights, and their means of self-preservation is enough for me to suggest that the guns that are currently being used by the department are in fact already in the hands of criminals.

You have spoken the sad truth!
B est regards.

 

[Titan]

What the heck, it's only taxpayer money they're pissing away by not trading in the old guns.

 

[RG617]

If you rely on FOX for your news, then you shouldn't be surprised. Sensationalism at it's worst.

 

[Jedhed]

What the heck, it's only taxpayer money they're pissing away by not trading in the old guns.

+1 The BPD's stance on this is complete nonsense.

 

[massnee]

Davmac
Aug 1, 2008 | 2:25 PM

A gun is a tool, just like any other tool if the user does not use it properly...

No sir...a gun is not a tool...the Governor is a tool!

 

[highlander]

maybe the BPD shouldn't have guns. No guns no trade ins,if there are no trade ins the bad guys go unarmed. And if you believe that little fairy tale I got some swamp land I'd like to sell

 

[mark056]

This is really old news with regard to Police Departments trading in old guns and some of them finding their way into the hands of criminals. It gets recycled and slanted and resurrected from time to time.

What the annoying factor in all this is for me, is attaching a moral value to an inantimate object as if a police gun were somehow "good" and a criminal's gun somehow "bad" when in fact a gun is neither good nor bad. Once a piece of property is lawfully disposed of, the responsiblity for that property then becomes that of the new owner. If in the course of the ownership cycle of that property, an owner misuses it in a crime, it is hardly the fault of the Police Department that disposed of the firearm. To somehow think that a Police Department is responsible for "putting more guns on the street" is ridiculous. If you lawfully dispose of a personally owned firearm, and later it is used in a crime, are you somehow responsible? It is the same thing.

A truckload of S&W handguns is hijacked...(it really happened at both Colt and S&W in the past, and there were Colt employees who were found stealing guns from the factory) later some of these guns show up on the street. Is Colt or S&W to blame? They took all reasonable precautions.

Back in the gangster era of the roaring 20's theft from National Guard Armories were a source of firearms for many of the gangs operating in the Mid-west. Was the National Guard to blame? I am fairly certain that the NG took all reasonable precautions in effect at the time to safegaurd its weapons. The point is, that criminals are always going to find a way to obtain firearms, and most of the time do not procure them through legitimate venues.

So, if the police dispose of their firearms in a lawful manner, selling them to a wholesaler who in turn sells them to licensed dealers, I fail to see what the problem is.

Many departments are now leasing firearms which is frequently a relatively inexpensive way to acquire the latest model of police service firearm, and when the lease is over, the guns are returned to the manufacturer. This might be an excellent way to go for financially strapped departments and eliminates the whole issue of disposal. In effect, the police don't own any guns, which should make all the anti-2A people estatic.

Mark L.

 

[Jake L]

Let's keep BMW out of this. Not all criminals drive BMW's or use police gun turn in's.

 

[clinotus]

You all should be more outraged at the taxing scheme here in play. If they are so concerned with these guns being used in future crimes by criminals, then as someone else mentioned they would likely feel the same for cruisers, vests, radios, and so on.

Any organization that states it would purchase only new equipment despite the costs savings of passing down equipment or wholesaling it should cause you to red flag that organization. If it was a company, as a stockholder you’d be calling for the board to investigate the CFO and if it was a government then you’d know outright you were simply a means of unlimited untapped revenue. You’re not even a citizen, you are a wallet.

I've got half a mind to write my rep and urge him to help them pass a policy like this into place so we could showcase the BPD as the horrifically inept organization it is when it comes to its leadership, spending and its golden calf: The ability to blame.

They already blew smoke up our collective behinds with the sonar system to thwart shootings....the $1 million dollar secret that doesn't work. Lets throw even more money at them for more failures, so hopefully they tax the hell out of the people to the point that they wake up and stop putting these IDIOTS in office and power.

/crazy_tinfoil_cynic