The city of Atlanta is apparently failing to comply with state law S.B. 350, which requires local governments to return firearms to innocent owners. The law also requires local governments to auction off all confiscated but unclaimed firearms to a licensed dealer who can then sell the gun lawfully to a new owner.
Even though Atlanta Police Chief George Turner is aware of his obligations to follow S.B. 350, he’s either refusing to do so or dragging his feet. “We have an obligation to resell that, rebid that, and get that to gun purchasers so they can resell those,” Turner told a CBS46 reporter this week. He then added, “The city of Atlanta has not done that.”
With around 6,000 confiscated firearms accumulating in the Atlanta stockpile and no plans to return or auction them off, Chief Turner and Mayor Kasim Reed, who joined Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, are by definition breaking the law.
