City Selling Seized Guns to Increase Revenue

by Mike Bevel, CollectionIndustry.com

There are many avenues for states to pursue in bolstering revenue. Kansas has decided to auction guns.

The Kansas Department of Revenue, an agency that seizes property, including weapons, when it tries to collect on the state drug tax, has ?enough of an arsenal, we could?ve invaded a small nation,? Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon told the Lawrence Journal-World. Barring that avenue to revenue, the state usually sells the guns to several state agencies, including the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Department of Wildlife and Parks, local police departments and the Kansas Historical Society.

Kansas?s drug tax was enacted back in 1987 as a way to collect taxes from people trafficking in illegal drugs. Kansas considered the monies made from selling smack on street corners parking lots to be revenue ? and felt they deserved a cut of the profits. Surprisingly, the tax is seldom paid in full.

Kansas has about 40 weapons left that didn?t get picked up in the initial sale to state agencies, hence the auction. The auction is only open to people with a federal license to buy and sell firearms.