Saturday, September 23, 2000
Opinion sought on sale of guns
Law says auction them, but judge says otherwise
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON — Police Chief Larry Walsh is looking for legal advice on what to do with two weapons seized during an arrest.
Fayette District Judge Kevin Horne has ordered him to destroy the two handguns. But a new state law directs Chief Walsh to turn them over to Kentucky State Police for sale at public auction.
Chief Walsh has asked the legal department of the Urban County Government for an opinion.
“I've asked them to respond to this as quickly as possible,” he said.
Such orders from district court have been routine in the past. But this is the first order Chief Walsh has received since the General Assembly said confiscated guns must be sold. The law went into effect July 15.
Chief Walsh had opposed passage of the bill but said he would obey it.
On Sept. 8, Lexington police received an order from Judge Horne requiring them to destroy a Jenning .380 and a .38 Derringer seized from Dale Allen Arnett, 42. Mr. Arnett was fined Sept. 6 on two counts of carrying concealed weapons, according to Fayette District Court records.
Opponents of the auction law, along with Chief Walsh and Louisville police, had hoped that an offer from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development would help them avoid having to turn the guns over for auction. HUD, which oversees the Violence Reduction Gun Buyback Initiative, offered to buy weapons from city police departments and destroy them.
But an opinion from the state attorney general's office, written by Assistant Deputy Attorney General Scott White, said the language in the new law clearly prohibits police from transferring the guns to another agency to be destroyed.
Since July 15, two public auctions have been held in Frankfort. Proceeds from the sale of the guns are supposed to be distributed to rural law enforcement agencies for body armor.
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