LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A Louisville mayoral candidate says his administration would alter seized guns so they can’t fire before turning them over for auction as required under Kentucky law.
Democrat Craig Greenberg is expected to announce the plan on Wednesday as part of his campaign's public safety initiative.
“There is far too much violent crime in Louisville. There is far too much senseless gun violence. There is far too much crime period,” Greenberg said in an interview with WDRB. “Too often those guns that are used to commit crimes are confiscated end up back on the streets to commit another crime.”
State law requires guns seized by police to be turned over to Kentucky State Police after the criminal case is resolved. If the gun is stolen and its original owner can be found, the gun is returned. The guns sent to KSP are sold at auction—with some ultimately winding up back on the street and used in crimes.
“That's absurd, that's dangerous and that has to stop,” Greenberg said. “We will comply with Kentucky law and return the guns to Frankfort. However, we will only return them after the guns have been rendered inoperative.”
Craig Greenberg
Greenberg did not say exactly how that would be done, but he said his plan involves using city resources.
The law mandating the gun auctions was passed in 1998, It says state police “shall receive firearms and ammunition confiscated by or abandoned to every law enforcement agency in Kentucky.”
The statute does not specify what condition the guns must be in.
Greenberg said sending guns to KSP that no longer can be fired is “not prohibited under Kentucky law.”
“We have checked with and consulted counsel on this issue. I'm a lawyer myself and I'm confident we can do this,” he said.
The law has been criticized publicly by some police chiefs throughout the commonwealth over the years. Neither state police nor Louisville police could immediately say just how many guns at the auctions are connected to crimes once they’re sold.
Earlier this year Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, unsuccessfully urged state legislators to change the law to allow guns to be destroyed after seizure.
Republican Bill Dieruf, the the GOP nominee for Louisville mayor and current mayor of Jeffersontown, declined to give his position on the state law at a press conference Tuesday and hasn’t yet responded to a follow-up request.
The KSP auctions are held several times a year for federal firearms licensees. As of Monday there were 1,637 such license holders in the state, including pawn shops, gun shops and “home-based” license holders.
Profits from the auctions are distributed to different law enforcement agencies across the state to buy body armor . Kentucky State Police keep 20% of the overall profits.
In 2016, WDRB reported that 4,379 firearms were sold at auction in the prior year. Guns seized by LMPD accounted for nearly one-third of those sales.
According to the most recent data from LMPD through Sept. 4, the department has seized 1,906 guns so far in 2022. The department says it turned over 2,337 guns to KSP in 2021.
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