CENTER LINE, Mich. – It's completely legal.
"It's no different than someone selling a used firearm to a sporting goods store," said said Center Line Public Safety Director Paul Myszenski.
But not everyone thinks it's a good idea.
"I am more concerned about how this will come back to the city," said Councilman Ron Lapham.
The Center Line Public Safety Department is getting ready to hold an online auction. On the list: 40 handguns from Glocks to Colts and 26 long guns from police rifles to shot guns.
The auction is being held through SSL Corporation, an affiliate of Repocast.com.
Myszenski says they've had these police seized guns in their possession for nearly 10 years. Now, they will be sold to SSL a local company designed to legally auction off firearms.
"If there was any chance of anything that didn't appear right in all of this, we wouldn't imagine doing this," said Myzsenski. "We are abiding by the law to the fullest."
City Council member says it's all about money
But City Council member Ron Lapham says not so fast. They are selling for one reason and one reason only.
"Money," said Lapham. "I was an officer for 30 years and I don't think I could ever forgive myself it we sold a gun to somebody and it was used to kill someone."
Lapham was the only council member to vote against the auction.
"I don't really like the internet and when you're buying online you never know whose hands these weapons will end up in," Lapham said.
A representative from SSL Corporation tells Local 4 that everyone who wins an auction needs to report to one of their warehouses in Flint or Byron Center Michigan for an official background check, where some winners have been known to be turned away.
"Auction winners will go through the same background checks any gun buyer would face," says Myszenski.
SSL Corporation is a contracted auction firm that holds a Federal Firearms Dealer License issued by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The Center Line auction items could be posted online in the next 60 days.
Fraser Police Department has auctioned off seized police weapons in the past, this is a first for Center Line.