Might be a good chance for anybody in the area who has an FFL to pick up some nice guns. The Finance and Administration Cabinet can be reached at: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/finance/
and . . . the article has the apparently obligatory MMM whiner complaining about the sale. Letters to the ed is at:
postedits@cincypost.com
Here's the article:
http://www.kypost.com/news/guns062900.html
State police auctioning 250 guns
By Paul A. Long, Post staff reporter
The state police began auctioning off some 250 guns today, in an effort to free up storage space in preparation for a new law that will require many more such auctions.
The auction is the second under a 1998 law that requires Kentucky State Police to sell any gun they seize that cannot be returned to its owner.
Starting next month, a new state law goes into effect that requires every police agency in the state to send such firearms to the state police, which must hold an auction every 90 days.
Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong has predicted that state police would have to collect 10,000 weapons from police departments around the state.
Today's auction drew about 35 federally licensed firearms dealers to the state police supply post in Frankfort. All of them registered in advance with the Finance and Administration Cabinet, which is running the event.
''It's a beautiful day,'' said Chris Kellogg, a spokeswoman for the cabinet.
''We're outside, and everything is going smoothly.''
The last auction brought in about $34,000, Ms. Kellogg said, a spokeswoman for the cabinet. The money is put into a fund administered by the Department for Local Government, which doles out grants to various police departments around the state for them to buy bulletproof vests.
Still, many police departments object to the new law.
Laura Ault, who organized the Northern Kentucky contingent for the Million Mom March, said it is appalling to sell weapons used in violent crimes.
''Imagine the pain of learning that a gun used to kill a family member is back on the street and could harm another innocent per son,'' she said.
''Imagine that the profits from the sale of this gun have been swallowed up into a huge bureaucratic budget.''
Better the money should go into a crime victims compensation fund, she said.
The weapons being auctioned off today include almost new and well-used rifles, pistols and revolvers; .22-calibers, .357-magnums, and .38 specials; derringers and shotguns.
''It's a lot like a car auction - there's a wide variety of guns here,'' Ms. Kellogg said.
At one point, officials from U.S. Housing and Urban Development seemed prepared to use a federal program to buy the guns and destroy them. HUD officials in Louisville even wrote to Attorney General Ben Chandler to ask whether they could buy the guns with funds from the Violence Reduction Gun Buyback Initiative.
Chandler has not responded to that question, and is unlikely to do so before today, said his spokesman, Corey Bellamy.
''What we did was float a trial balloon,'' said John Milchick, state coordinator of HUD, who works in the Louisville office.
''We never had a specific plan to buy guns. What we did was explore the legality and feasibility of it.''
Copyright 1999 The Kentucky Post.
Earlier, related links:
http://www.cincypost.com/opinion/straub042100.html -- "Kentucky gun law immoral" (sniff)
http://www.kypost.com/news/gaguns041000.html -- "Police beg Patton: Veto bill" (sniff II)
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited June 29, 2000).]
and . . . the article has the apparently obligatory MMM whiner complaining about the sale. Letters to the ed is at:
postedits@cincypost.com
Here's the article:
http://www.kypost.com/news/guns062900.html
State police auctioning 250 guns
By Paul A. Long, Post staff reporter
The state police began auctioning off some 250 guns today, in an effort to free up storage space in preparation for a new law that will require many more such auctions.
The auction is the second under a 1998 law that requires Kentucky State Police to sell any gun they seize that cannot be returned to its owner.
Starting next month, a new state law goes into effect that requires every police agency in the state to send such firearms to the state police, which must hold an auction every 90 days.
Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong has predicted that state police would have to collect 10,000 weapons from police departments around the state.
Today's auction drew about 35 federally licensed firearms dealers to the state police supply post in Frankfort. All of them registered in advance with the Finance and Administration Cabinet, which is running the event.
''It's a beautiful day,'' said Chris Kellogg, a spokeswoman for the cabinet.
''We're outside, and everything is going smoothly.''
The last auction brought in about $34,000, Ms. Kellogg said, a spokeswoman for the cabinet. The money is put into a fund administered by the Department for Local Government, which doles out grants to various police departments around the state for them to buy bulletproof vests.
Still, many police departments object to the new law.
Laura Ault, who organized the Northern Kentucky contingent for the Million Mom March, said it is appalling to sell weapons used in violent crimes.
''Imagine the pain of learning that a gun used to kill a family member is back on the street and could harm another innocent per son,'' she said.
''Imagine that the profits from the sale of this gun have been swallowed up into a huge bureaucratic budget.''
Better the money should go into a crime victims compensation fund, she said.
The weapons being auctioned off today include almost new and well-used rifles, pistols and revolvers; .22-calibers, .357-magnums, and .38 specials; derringers and shotguns.
''It's a lot like a car auction - there's a wide variety of guns here,'' Ms. Kellogg said.
At one point, officials from U.S. Housing and Urban Development seemed prepared to use a federal program to buy the guns and destroy them. HUD officials in Louisville even wrote to Attorney General Ben Chandler to ask whether they could buy the guns with funds from the Violence Reduction Gun Buyback Initiative.
Chandler has not responded to that question, and is unlikely to do so before today, said his spokesman, Corey Bellamy.
''What we did was float a trial balloon,'' said John Milchick, state coordinator of HUD, who works in the Louisville office.
''We never had a specific plan to buy guns. What we did was explore the legality and feasibility of it.''
Copyright 1999 The Kentucky Post.
Earlier, related links:
http://www.cincypost.com/opinion/straub042100.html -- "Kentucky gun law immoral" (sniff)
http://www.kypost.com/news/gaguns041000.html -- "Police beg Patton: Veto bill" (sniff II)
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited June 29, 2000).]