[marktwain]

Vermont is selling guns the state has impounded over decades. The average price per gun, auctioned in lots to Federal Firearms Dealers, has been $140 each.

[Jonty30]

Impound the gunscatvnot cost to the state, then sell the guns at a profit.

[Lockbox]

Well since Bernie‘s from Vermont and wants government to provide everything for free, there’s the answer. FREE GUNS!

[Carriage Hill]

“Vermont has a low crime rate, but high gun ownership.”

[rfreedom4u]

Send them to the patriots of Virginia!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember in the early 1970s, when NYC cleaned out their confiscated handguns. It took three Coast Guard ships to tow the barges out into the Atlantic where they were dumped into the deep.

Had the dumped the guns on the open market they could have depressed the prices of new handguns, and drove the gun companies into bankruptcy, but then it was New York.

People go crazy at police auctions when the guns are sold, often bidding up higher than new prices for junk guns.

[ZOOKER]

No one asks the obvious questions:

Why were the guns impounded in the first place, if most were not directly involved in a crime?

Why can't these guns be returned to their rightful owners?

[Svartalfiar]

Under state law, officials need permission from the commissioner of public safety or the state treasurer in order to destroy or sell guns held by the government.
...
With no legal way for cops to get rid of the guns, they pile up.

Easy solution. Give them away free. That's not destroying, nor is it selling. Every person interested can enter a lottery, receiving one ticket per person. Then randomly draw for each firearm. This makes it fair so dealers don't grab them all for free then turn around and sell them for major profit, and allows the general public to also potentially grab some of them.