MINNEAPOLIS— For law enforcement in Minnesota, getting guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals is a big goal.
Every year, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office investigators confiscate hundreds of guns used in crimes. So far this year, that number is 106. The weapons have been linked to robberies and drug cases, or taken from a criminal in possession of a firearm.
For the past two years, they have seized more than one gun a day. Those weapons are kept as evidence until the case goes through court, and then they are melted down.
Captain Steve Labatt, the director of the forensic laboratory, rattled off weapons on the list of destroyed inventory.
“Pistols, revolvers, Derringers, semi-automatics, rifles, Thompson rifles, more pistols, more Derringers,” Labatt said. “As these pieces of evidence go through the court system and the person is found guilty, and the court rules that guns are confiscated and not returned to the owners or the person, they come here to our lab for destruction.”
This round included more than 470 guns. Usually attached to crimes. Some were unwanted and were surrendered by families. It totaled £660.
“You don’t want them back on the streets. And we can’t store evidence in our crime lab,” Labatt said, when asked why the department destroys weapons linked to crimes.
It took Labatt’s team about ten days to remove the plastic and wood from the weapons. Then they were done.
“The foundry workers, under our watchful eye, opened the cases and loaded the guns into the foundry by hand. We started with pistols first, and then we put in the long guns, the shotguns, a couple of rifles. And then at that point Once the temperature got pretty hot, we just kept refilling it and refilling it,” Labatt said.
The result? Several heavy blocks with a message embossed on the top: “Each block represents approximately 50 guns from the streets of Hennepin County.”
“It’s a great representation of the work that’s been done,” Labatt said.
The Sheriff’s Office provided the task forces with a block to commemorate their hard work.
WCCO asked about weapons used in homicides and was told that under state law they are kept for life.
Jennifer Mayerle
