Posted on 08/28/2015 2:55:29 PM PDT by marktwain
Mayor Caldwell of Honolulu appears to have made the decision to destroy over half a million dollars of Smith & Wesson pistols, rather than sell them to police, police departments or to gun dealers anywhere. The mayor did not seek to gain political "credit" for the decision. The scheme was kept secret until it was leaked by whistle blowing police officers about a month ago. No credible reason was given for destroying the valuable merchandise.
There is no shortage of pistol manufacturers. If the guns were sold to police or gun dealers, they would be directly competing with other pistols, in exactly the same legal channels as newly manufactured guns. By reducing the supply of old guns, Honolulu is increasing the demand for new guns. Gun manufacturers must be smiling all the way to the bank. It is Honolulu taxpayers who are footing the bill.
From hawaiinewsnow.com:
The city of Honolulu will destroy $500,000 worth of old police guns instead of selling them to other law enforcement agencies or Honolulu police officers.The Caldwell administration even found a way to interpret the budget rules to forbid the selling of police pistols to individual officers, a practice that had been common in the past.
HPD has replaced more than 2,300 of its old handguns with new lighter, cheaper guns. Many police officers said those old guns still have value and should not be thrown away but sold or donated to be re-used instead.
Since 1990, Honolulu police officers have used Smith & Wesson 9 millimeter handguns and the city has replaced them with lighter and easier-to-use Glock 17s that cost about half as much as the Smith & Wessons.
Hawaii News Now has learned that the city plans to destroy about 2,300 of the old Smith & Wessons in the next few weeks, including 200 of them that are brand new and still in their boxes.
I’d LOVE to get a hold of a nice, used S&W 5906 at a decent price. Shame that these are being destroyed.
Seen a ton of those Police trade-in guns over the years. The 3rd Gen Smiths are built like tanks, and in DAO have OK triggers. Loved the 4586 I had, but I couldn’t hit anything with it.
He could probably sell them for a bunch of money and feed a lot of hungry people with the proceeds—but that would make too much sense for this idiot probably.
Typical liberals....
NEVER let ANYTHING get in the way of the agenda. ESPECIALLY other people’s money.
Just damn.
Melt ‘em down. Turn ‘em into Sigs.
They need a new mayor.
These fascists do net even trust their own officers to privately own guns. They are also wasting half a million taxpayer dollars.
guy looks like a fag...
[. . .the police department will not allow pictures of the guns; and no pictures have surfaced of the guns being destroyed.]
It may be some or all the firearms weren’t destroyed and are being sold individually by police and city officials.
ain't that the truth
I bought a used S&W Model 28 .357 in 1984 that was a Ohio State Highway Patrol turn-in, for $200. Had holster wear but was immaculate otherwise. Has a sweet DA pull and a 3 pound SA break. Sent it to the factory and had red ramp front and white outline rear sights installed to match my M29. Two fine revolvers.
So the Glocks cost half as much as the S&Ws THAT ARE ALREADY PAID FOR.
“Leftist are full of rage against the world. It gives them perverse satisfaction to destroy things.”
Remember the ‘cash for clunkers’ nonsense? Part of the deal was the car dealership not only sent the clunker to the junk yard but the law required someone to pour acid down every one of the engine’s cylinders; disabling the engine to insure it could never be used in any way again.
I always thought that was not only extreme and unnecessary, but odd. But then it hit me: it served the left’s need to kill and destroy that which they don’t agree with (evil gas-guzzling engines).
The Democrats (aka leftists, Marxists) are in nearly total control of Hawaii, esp. Honolulu so they think that they can act like dictators (or Obama and Hillary), and do what they like without any fear of exposure or prosecution.
I’m surprised that the Big Island hasn’t sunk into the ocean under the weight of the corruption on it.
And also increase sales by gm & chrysler, gubmint motors. This directly hurt low income folks who generally rely on those older vehicles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.