A feature on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 tried to stoke outrage over NRA’s advocacy for police departments selling surplus firearms instead of destroying them. As analyzed by Newsbusters, the three law enforcement heads interviewed in the segment decried the fact that such sales put more guns “on the streets”—regardless of the fact that they are sold to law-abiding citizens.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo even identified a key reason for NRA’s stance: “And what the NRA is telling these lawmakers in these states is, ‘Why throw away a perfectly good gun when you could sell them and then use the money to reinvest into other law enforcement activities?’ And that is true, Anderson. Police departments that have sold these guns, they’ve been able to buy bullets for training or ballistic vests for the officers.” Yet Acevedo and crew maintain that they’d rather make a political point with no effect on crime than actually give their officers the resources they need.
