In a strange twist of emotional symbolism over reason, Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers and Councilman Charles Vierhout voted against the required sale of valuable property to raise money for the police and city of Avondale.
State law requires that confiscated or forfeited firearms be sold, rather than destroyed in a ritual comparable to the medieval concept of the Deodand, where objects could be considered to be guilty of crimes.
The police department has about 1,000 firearms that have been confiscated or surrendered, and they are running out of room.
As demand for firearms is currently high, this is an especially fortuitous time to sell the property. Working firearms are seldom worth less than $100, so the entire collection will probably bring more than $100,000 for the City and police.
Only one citizen complained about the law, and wanted the property destroyed rather than sold.
Destruction of the firearms would only benefit gun manufacturers by increasing demand, although some would argue that it would give an emotional lift to those who have an irrational fear of weapons.
©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.
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1 comment:
I'm still not comfortable about having neighbors, for example, in apartments in Avondale AZ who keep guns.
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