Confiscated weapons are sold, destroyed, returned to their owners or converted for official use in most Salt Lake Valley police agencies.
Only Sandy destroys all the guns it doesn't return to owners."We don't keep or sell any guns," Sandy Sgt. Ed Cantor said. "They either go back to an owner or they're marked for destruction."
But all other police agencies contacted said they either trade or sell legal, unclaimed weapons to gun dealers or at auctions. All agencies said they destroyed illegal weapons like Saturday night specials or sawed-off shotguns.
Salt Lake Police Lt. Marty Vuyk said his department holds auctions of unclaimed weapons a couple times a year.
Vuyk said if the guns weren't purchased from police agencies, gun dealers would buy them from manufacturers. A lot of guns used in the commission of a crime are stolen, he said, and often they are weapons that are illegal to own, so they're destroyed.
West Valley held its first gun auction last October. It was the department's first auction in three years, said Kevin Hines, an evidence clerk.
"We required those people who wanted to bid (on weapons) to come in and fill out federal forms," she said. "We did a complete background check on all of them. We use the money to buy equipment for our officers."
She said by bidding the weapons out, the department will get about 10 cents on the dollar. West Valley tries to have the court rule on what happens to confiscated property.
The Salt Lake County sheriff's office and the South Salt Lake, Midvale and Murray police departments offer gun dealers the chance to bid on the guns in bulk. They don't sell individual guns to dealers and they don't get cash from the transaction.
All of them said they trade the highest bidder the confiscated weapons for new weapons that the departments can use or for ammunition.
Deputy Rod Norton said the sheriff's office sometimes returns weapons that are found to the finder if they're not claimed. Hines said the money generated from the sale of weapons that are seized during the commission of a drug-related crime is used in drug enforcement.
The Division of Fish and Game held auctions on confiscated weapons until last year, but state law now forbids an unlicensed gun dealer from selling weapons, and the division isn't licensed.