Arizona Group Seeks To Stop Police From Destroying Surrendered Guns

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An Arizona gun rights group is seeking to ban the destruction of guns that people turn in voluntarily to the police, the Arizona Daily Star reported Friday. 

Current law in Arizona requires confiscated guns to be recirculated to licensed firearms dealers. And the Arizona Citizens Defense League wants to extend that law to guns that are surrendered to the police. The group has requested the legislature change the law, and according to the report, 17 representatives support the measure. 

Last month, a private company in Tucson, Ariz. destroyed 212 guns that were turned in during a city buyback on the second anniversary of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Charles Heller, the Arizona Citizens Defense League’s communications director, told the Arizona Daily Star that the police are “misconstruing the law. So we’re changing the words so their perfidy is made very clear.” 

Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who organized the city’s buyback last month, said the issue illustrates how gun owners feel differently about firearms than other pieces of property. He told the paper: “This bill clearly illustrates that some people don’t view guns like toasters. When it comes to guns, it’s as though they hold some magical or sacred designation in their lives.”

Read the full report here.

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