Under the provision of a new policy in North Carolina, law enforcement agencies can no longer destroy confiscated or unclaimed firearms.
Backed by the National Rifle Association, Senate Bill 443 states that the only guns that can be legally destroyed by the police are those that are damaged or are missing serial numbers. All other guns, whether seized from criminals or acquired through buy-back programs, must be either kept by the police, donated or re-sold to licensed gun dealers. The “save the gun” law goes into effect in October.
“In the past we have generally asked for permission from the courts to destroy weapons that were involved in a crime on campus,” wrote John Dailey, chief of the Duke University Police Department, in an email Sunday. “This new law does reduce the options we have for disposal.”
Even before it was officially passed by Gov. Pat McCrory, this gun destruction bill received overwhelming support in both the House and the Senate, which voted 98 to 16 and 48 to one, respectively. In addition to restricting gun destruction, this same bill also allows guns to be carried into restaurants and bars, or left in vehicles.
Philip Cook, senior associate dean for faculty and research at Sanford School of Public Policy, noted that the National Rifle Association might have backed this legislation as a symbolic gesture in support of their ethos that guns are not a problem when they are owned by “law abiding” citizens.
“In fact, in this view, guns are a good thing, because they allow people to defend themselves, deter crime and fight for freedom,” Cook wrote in an email Tuesday.
Cook added that the new law would not dramatically increase the supply of used guns in the market, despite the popular belief that it would do so.
“The number of guns acquired by gun buybacks nationwide is small compared to the total number that change hands each year nationwide, which is close to 10 million new guns and six million used guns,” he said.
According to Cook, the only major impact this new regulation will have is a slight decrease in the price of firearms due to the increase in supply.
The banning of gun destruction, however, still presents North Carolina law enforcement agencies with a problem.
The passing of the gun destruction bill means that the Durham Police Department now needs to find other channels to dispose of this large number of weapons.
According to Gun Crime Measures and statistics by Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Durham Police Department has seized a total of 303 firearms in the first half of 2013, including 240 handguns, 30 rifles and 33 shotguns.
“As for what we will do with the guns, we will explore the options that are provided to us under the new legislation, and that is an ongoing process,” wrote Durham Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian Reitz in an email Tuesday. He also noted that the Durham Police Department does not currently have an organizational opinion on this legislation.
“It is too early to speculate as to the impact of this legislation on the department,” Reitz said.
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