BOSTON – Guns used to protect the public end up on the other side of the law.
Data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms shows that over the past 16 years, more than 52,000 weapons once owned by police later turned up at crime scenes. This means that a police rifle was used approximately 3,000 times a year to commit a crime, sometimes with fatal consequences. The WBZ-TV I-Team teamed up with CBS News in a partnership with nonprofit newsrooms “The Trace” and “Reveal” on a special investigation into where old police weapons end up.
Mother Ruth Rollins from Boston wants to know. Her son Danny was shot dead when he was 21.
“There were two young men, they were young teenagers who had something to do with my son’s murder, and they never left their housing project. I wanted to understand how these guns ended up in our community,” said Rollins, who has since become an advocate against gun violence.
Guns that are sold legally
She was surprised to learn that guns used in crimes usually result from a legal transaction.
“Someone buys guns legally and sells them to someone who can’t buy them legally, and it’s a business,” Rollins told WBZ.
Preventing guns from falling into the wrong hands is the inspiration behind police-sponsored gun buybacks. It’s a topic that Boston Police Chief Michael Cox speaks passionately about.
“We are doing everything we can to get as many people off the streets as possible,” he said. But gun control advocates say what police are doing with their own weapons is working against that goal.
The Massachusetts Police Department sells or deals in guns
Working with CBS News, the I-Team obtained data showing that Massachusetts police departments typically and legally sell back or trade their service weapons to dealers when they are no longer of use to officers. This includes the Massachusetts State Police, the Worcester Police Department and others.
Records show that Quincy police have traded 200 guns back to a dealer since 2000. Cambridge police have sold back 575 guns. Lynn Police sold back 205 and Lawrence Police sold back at least 140.
Records show that police across the border in Nashua, New Hampshire, have sold at least 485 guns to eight different dealers across the country in recent decades.
Records show Boston police trafficked 500 Glock 22 pistols three years ago. A spokesperson said it is an effort “to reduce costs to the city. Such transactions typically occur at the licensed firearms wholesalers where we purchase the new items.”
But records from police agencies across the country show that some have sold guns to dealers even if they don’t buy replacements from them.
The costs of destroying old police weapons
“That’s terrible. Those weapons should not have been sold back to gun dealers. They should have been destroyed,” Rollins told WBZ.
Boston police invited her to watch them shred the seized weapons. She believes that old police weapons should suffer the same fate. One community on Cape Cod is already doing that.
“This is a step forward, this is a victory,” said Tom Stone of the Falmouth Gun Safety Coalition. The group has pushed for years for local police to destroy officers’ old weapons. In April, the coalition finally got what it wanted. The city manager agreed to surrender 26 guns for Massachusetts State Police to destroy.
“My concern is obviously for the safety of Falmouth residents and visitors who come here,” City Manager Mike Renshaw told WBZ. “We have taken steps to ensure that there would be no gun violence incident from these 26 shotguns.”
That entails costs. In this case, Falmouth Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie said he could have saved more than $4,000 by selling the guns back.
“As a department head, I just feel like I have a responsibility to the taxpayers,” he said.
Trade-in value for a donation
Falmouth police have 70 additional weapons worth as much as $20,000 and plan to get rid of them later this year. Renshaw said he hasn’t decided yet whether to trade them in or destroy them. The select board instituted a new policy to publicly disclose the trade-in value of guns when police replace them. If someone donates that amount, the police can destroy the weapons.
“It makes me feel good to know we’re kind of on that lead,” Renshaw said.
