Marion County Sheriff John Layton said he will destroy 4,159 firearms that have been confiscated, mostly during criminal arrests.
“This is consistent with our effort to keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” said Layton. “In the past, these firearms might have been returned to the street through an auction process, but I believe that the right thing to do is destroy them and completely eliminate the possibility that they might fall back into hands of criminals. The number of these weapons alone reflect the great job our law enforcement officers do in Marion County.”
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is the recipient of thousands of guns that are passed on to the MCSO from police agencies that confiscate the guns during police actions. The Sheriff’s Office destroys all the guns, with the exception of a few that are suitable for use by other police departments. “If certain types of guns are in good condition and suitable for use by other police agencies, we welcome other departments to utilize those firearms for departmental use only,” said Layton.
“We just turned over more than $4,000 worth of guns to the Homecroft Police Department. That saves taxpayers dollars and helps these department’s bottom line,” the sheriff said.
The actual destruction of the guns takes place at an Indiana foundry which has a contract with MCSO. Deputies oversee the destruction of these firearms, and as such, the security remains tight and inventory closely scrutinized.
