Fayetteville Police destroyed more than 80 guns Wednesday afternoon in an effort to keep weapons from landing in the wrong hands.
A court order was obtained for the destruction of 82 firearms which included rifles, shotguns, an handguns, according to Sgt. Craig Stout. The guns had been confiscated during various arrests and investigations over the years.
“Some may be where it was a weapon stolen in a burglary, we can return those to the rightful owners, but these are ones that were used in crimes where they have been found guilty or not allowed to have those back,” Sgt. Stout said.
Officers used a metal saw to cut the weapons into pieces, so they will never be used in a crime again.
“We could sell it back to a legitimate business, a gun trader and we can actually use that as trade in for weapons of our own,” Sgt. Stout said. “However, we just don't feel uncomfortable if one of those weapons ended up in the hands of the wrong person and ended up being used in another crime.”
Sgt. Stout would not divulge where the parts of the weapons are disposed of.
“If we could we may try to recycle some of the parts or something. but we make sure that no one will ever get their hands on any of the parts either," he said.