By Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Hundreds of guns seized by Phoenix police could end up back on the streets every year under a proposal to resell the weapons instead of melting them down.
Phoenix’s vice mayor this week asked the Phoenix Police Department to explore the issue of selling guns to licensed firearms dealers to fund the Silent Witness program, which pays rewards for tips that lead to arrests.
The request comes as violent crime is rising in the Valley and nationwide and fatal police shootings climbed to the highest mark in nearly three decades. Just this week, Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle was shot and killed after stopping a jaywalker. Police haven’t said where Erik Jovani Martinez, an illegal immigrant who had been deported last year, obtained his gun.
Phoenix police Officer George Cortez Jr. was shot to death in July by a person with a stolen gun.
Opponents of the idea say it’s bad policy and simply doesn’t make sense for police to put more guns on the streets.
But Vice Mayor Dave Siebert said the criticism is “absurd.” Guns would be sold only to licensed firearms dealers and buyers would have to undergo background checks to purchase them, he said.
“The people who are getting them are not criminals,” Siebert said. “They can only go to honest, law-abiding citizens. ... We don’t have problems with our honest citizens.
“This is not something that is going to harm the public.”
Under Siebert’s proposal, no guns would be sold to felons or directly to the public. Instead, they would be sold to licensed firearms dealers approved through the city’s request-for-proposals process. Siebert said guns used in murders and other heinous acts would never be sold.
Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, said selling guns to fund Silent Witness would be a “worthy cause,” so long as they were bought and sold legally.
Keep guns off streets
Still, the idea doesn’t sit well with Beckie Miller, whose son, Brian, 18, was shot to death in 1991.
“It’s ludicrous,” Miller said. “There’s no argument that’s going to work that says if they want to get guns they’re going to get them anyway. That doesn’t mean we should make them easily accessible.
“Taking guns that were used in crimes and putting them back out there just sounds so horrible.”
Police selling guns is not common, although it does happen across the country. Locally, Mesa and Apache Junction police already auction guns. The state Department of Public Safety trades them to licensed firearms dealers for ammunition.
Experts say the idea runs contrary to law-enforcement efforts to reduce the supply of firearms by cracking down on people who sell them unlawfully instead of just on career criminals who possess them when they shouldn’t.
Last year, violent crime increased in just about every Valley city. Nationwide, murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults rose 1.3 percent, according to the FBI.
At the same time, fatal shootings of police officers nationwide have more than doubled, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Erfle was the 56th officer nationwide to be shot and killed this year. In all of 2006, 52 officers were shot to death.
“Even with the availability of legal weapons, you don’t see cities promoting broader availability,” said Scott Decker, director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. “This would be really promoting getting guns back on the streets.”
A policy reversal
Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said the department will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of reselling guns as well as the political implications before making a recommendation. A policy change would have to be approved by the City Council.
“This is something we have done in the past. We have to investigate and see if this is something we really want to do,” Harris said. “Do you want to go back to having the Police Department sell guns?”
Phoenix stopped selling guns about 15 years ago amidst concerns that the practice was increasing the supply of cheap firearms and that the weapons could unwittingly wind up in the wrong hands.
In 1998, the International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a resolution supporting the “mandatory destruction of firearms.”
“The unlawful use of guns contributes to the number of police officers who die each year and also to the number of people who are killed and injured,” IACP spokeswoman Wendy Balazik said. “We don’t think more guns on the streets is necessarily the best policy.”
Currently, Phoenix police have 18,141 seized firearms, Sgt. Joel Tranter said. Of those, 1,750 have been cleared for disposal. Police destroyed 870 guns in April and 678 more in August.
Siebert said that’s “wasting money” that could be invested into catching more bad guys.
When Phoenix last sold guns in the early ‘90s, the city estimated the auctions brought in $184,222. After deducting overhead costs, the net gain was about $92,000.
Regardless, Phoenix City Councilman Greg Stanton said the city should not be in the business of selling guns.
“The city should try to do what we can to reduce the number of weapons on the street, not to increase them,” Stanton said. “It’s not the right thing to do.”
Copyright 2007 Arizona Republic