The Austin City Council passed a resolution today preventing the police department from selling used guns to the public.
comes in the wake of an investigation by the Texas Standard and the Center for Investigative Reporting that found in the last decade. Included in that tally were more than 1,100 handguns firearms the Austin Police Department sold to Bailey鈥檚 House of Guns in Houston. Money from those sales went toward the department鈥檚 acquisition of new weapons.
City officials said they were concerned the guns could slip into the hands of criminals.
鈥淭he concern that drove this resolution was one that we did not want our police department to be contributing guns out into the community," Council Member Alison Alter said at a work session Tuesday, "guns that could then ... be used on our police and on our community.鈥�
The Austin Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Although the gun dealers APD had sold firearms to are required by federal law to run background checks on prospective buyers, the city resolution states that the current system may not be adequate in preventing potential criminals from getting ahold of them.
The resolution mentions holes within the FBI鈥檚 background check system, which had been able to buy weapons despite a criminal record that should have blocked him from doing so.
The resolution also refers to the inability to adequately track whether police guns are being used in crimes due to the Tiahrt Amendment, a 2003 congressional law that blocks federal gun-trace data.
The city started moving on a resolution to stop sales after state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, in front of thousands of demonstrators during a March For Our Lives event at the Texas Capitol in March.
鈥淚t boggles the mind that here in our own city we allowed our APD to sell its used guns back into the private market," she said.
She demanded that the city stop the practice, 鈥渘ow that we know. Never again!鈥�
Before the Tiahrt Amendment blocked public access to federal gun-trace information, it was that police guns were being used in crimes. A 1999 found that former police weapons showed up in crimes across the nation on an average of three times a day. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that police guns continue to show up in traces of crime guns, but agents are unable to talk specifics due to the secretive nature of trace data.
The Center for Investigative Reporting is for the release of more detailed information regarding how often police guns are involved in crimes. The lawsuit is pending in federal court.
