This story was produced as a partnership between The Trace and CBS News and Stations. Candace Leslie received the call that she will never forget as she was leaving church. “All I heard on the phone was his girlfriend screaming and she said, ‘Cameron!” Cameron! … He won’t get up. He won’t get up!’ ” Someone
[[{“value”:”This article was produced in collaboration with Stations, CBS News, and The Trace.
Candace Leslie was leaving church when she got the call she will not forget.
” All I could hear was his girlfriend yelling on the phone, and she was like,’ Cameron!’ Cameron! He wo n’t get up. He wo n’t get up!'”
On September 20, 2021, Leslie’s son was shot four times outside his new Indianapolis apartment on the east side of the city.
Cameron Brown was 19. He was employed by FedEx. He loved fishing with his grandfather and was trying to follow his footsteps into the U. S. Army.
Brown passed away at the scene.
” I only felt numb. Leslie recalls the chaos, bright police tape, and police officers scouring the scene,” I felt a little bewildered.”
Police recovered at least one gun. It was a Glock handgun. Unknown to investigators at the time, the gun previously served as a law enforcement duty weapon, carried by a sheriff’s deputy more than 2, 000 miles apart in California.
The Glock was one of at least 52, 529 police guns that have been discovered at crime scenes since 2006, the earliest year, according to information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. While that total includes guns lost by or stolen from police, some of the firearms were released back into the market by the very law enforcement agencies sworn to protect the public.
The Center for Investigative Reporting conducted a study of the records from hundreds of law enforcement organizations in the United States in collaboration with The Trace and CBS News, finding that many of them frequently resold or traded their used weapons, a practice that has resulted in the release of thousands of guns into the hands of criminals.
Law enforcement resold guns to firearms dealers for discounts on new equipment and, in some cases, straight to their own officers, records show. Eventually, some of the guns were used in shootings, domestic violence, and other harsh crimes.
A Kentucky State Police pistol sold to a retired detective ended up in Buffalo, New York, where national agents executing a search warrant on a suspect in a murder investigation in 2019 found the gun in a backpack alongside heroin and a bulletproof vest. In another incident in Indianapolis in 2021, police detained a man while questioning him for supposedly choking a woman while he was being detained. The gun was completely loaded with a round in the chamber.
Reporters polled state and local law enforcement organizations to discover that at least 145 of them had resold guns at least once between 2006 and 2024. That’s about 90 % of the more than 160 agencies that responded.
Over the past two decades, records from 67 agencies revealed they had cooperatively resold more than 87, 000 firearms. That figure is probably a major undercount, nevertheless, because many agencies ‘ records were imperfect or greatly redacted.
Previous ATF division chief and current consultant for SafeGunLock, a Washington, D.C. based company, Scot Thomasson, believes police departments that resell weapons are breaking their legal responsibilities to protect the public. ” Taxpayers are buying firearms that are then resold for pennies on the dollar and finally ending up in criminals ‘ hands”, Thomasson said. It is “absolutely ridiculous.”
Many police departments resold their weapons while holding discounted events, which they say are crucial to pull guns off the street.
The Philadelphia City Council claims to have purchased 825 guns in buybacks since 2021 on its website. But records show that Philadelphia police resold at least 886 guns over the previous two decades, including 85 firearms between 2021 and 2022.
Departments occasionally added more guns to the market than they removed.
The Newark Police Department in New Jersey staged a buyback in 2021, offering the public up to$ 250 for each firearm turned over. 146 guns were collected during the event. ” Without question, 146 fewer firearms on our streets means less gun violence, fewer gun violence victims, and less risk of suicide or death”, the city’s public safety director said in a YouTube post celebrating the haul.
However, virtually 1, 000 guns were resold by Newark police five years prior, almost five times that number. One of those weapons surfaced in Pittsburgh, where police seized it from a convicted felon after he reportedly squeezed off more than a dozen shots in a neighborhood and finally led officers on a foot chase.
According to a Newark police spokesperson, the weapons had been exchanged as a cost-saving measure by a prior administration, and that the department “has no plans to upgrade its service weapons.”
The Glock pistol involved in the killing of Cameron Brown in Indianapolis was one of more than 600 guns resold by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office in Modesto, California, between March 2019 and August 2023, records show. Another weapon from the exact organization made its way to Texas, where San Antonio police recovered it in connection with the 2020 shooting of a 15-year-old.
In an interview with CBS News, Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse defended the practice of reselling weapons as needed to reduce the cost of new equipment. You’re talking many hundred thousand dollars every couple years, and that’s all the money the government spends, he said. ” It’s just a cost benefit to the department”.
Dirkse expressed sympathy for Brown’s family, but he claimed his organization was hardly accountable for the teenager’s death. ” Whoever did this, if he did n’t acquire that gun, he’s probably going to go acquire another one”, Dirkse said. My organization “had no bearing” in it at all.
When a reporter told Brown’s family members that the gun involved in his death previously belonged to a sheriff’s office, they were at first in disbelief and then angry.
One more gun on the street, according to Brown’s grandmother, Maria Leslie, a pastor, “actually changed our lives forever.” ” We’re missing a piece of our puzzle”.
The family then demands that the police halt the sale of their weapons.
” I’m losing trust in the people who’re supposed to protect and serve us”, said Leslie, Brown’s mother. There is no justification for younger teenagers to possess police firearms.
Indianapolis Police Chief Christopher Bailey told CBS News that his agency has previously traded in its weapons, but he would consider changing that policy in light of Brown’s death. He said,” I do n’t want any weapon that we have to end up being used violently against another person.”
Brown’s killing remains unanswered.
A Recession in Law Enforcement
For decades, the ATF has worked on behalf of state and local law enforcement to trace recovered crime guns to their original owners, providing new leads to investigators and insights into firearms trafficking.
According to ATF data obtained by Reveal, between 2006 and 2021, the number of crime guns tracked to law enforcement organizations more than doubled annually, from about 2,200 to more than 4,500. On average, more than 3, 200 duty weapons were recovered at crime scenes every over that 16- year period.
Records tracing some of the traces taken between 2013 and 2017 reveal that the guns once belonged to more than 800 unique organizations, including rural sheriff’s offices and police departments in the nation’s largest cities.
Even more detailed trace information used to be publicly accessible, making it easier for reporters to hold police accountable for their resale practices. In 1999, the Washington Post analyzed ATF data and found 107 crimes linked to past District of Columbia police firearms. That same year, a similar investigation by CBS News revealed more than 3, 000 police guns had been connected to crimes– including almost 300 homicides – since 1990.
The ATF is no longer required to release most traces of information, thanks to the Tiahrt Amendment, which was passed by Congress in 2003 and named in honor of the lawmaker who was the author. In 2017, Reveal sued the ATF for refusing to respond to a open records request for statistical data on recovered police guns. Tiahrt was the target of the agency’s protest. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in favor of Reveal in 2020, ruling that the request fit within an exception to Tiahrt that allows the ATF to release analytical information.
State and local law enforcement organizations are officially required to destroy their used firearms, but state and local law enforcement have no such obligation. As a result, decisions about what to do with ancient guns are left up to state and regional leaders and police chiefs, who’ve taken a variety of stances.
Seattle police stopped trading in handguns around 2016 due to safety concerns. ” If we’re selling them out, we just do n’t know where those guns could end up”, said Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz. ” We do n’t want to solve the issue,” the statement read.
When CBS News Minnesota showed our findings to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, he said his agency would stop reselling its guns.
” I do n’t want us to be in a situation where a weapon that was once in use for the police department here is then winding up being used in a crime, or in an act of violence against a person, or even to shoot a police officer,” O’Hara said. ” But going forth, we’re not going to be selling any weapons at all”.
Similar to how cellphone companies offer discounts on fresh phones in exchange for older models, law enforcement organizations frequently trade their used weapons for credit toward their future purchase.
William Brooks, a board member for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said resales are necessary for some departments to afford weapons upgrades. He said that “every decision regarding trading in used police service weapons should be left to adult communities and their police chiefs.” ” We believe that, should a community decide to destroy old weapons when new ones are purchased, they should commit just as passionately to completely funding new firearm purchases when their police chiefs call for them”.
Weapons are then sold on a supplementary market where they can be resold to people or other dealers when sold by a department. By the time they turn up at crime scenes, the guns may have been stolen, traded or resold many times with much documentation. Often, the department’s name is also embossed on the side.
Michael Sierra- Arévalo, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin and author of” The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing”, said trade- ins allow police to avoid people scrutiny, as they can purchase new guns without having to obtain administrative approval from city leaders.
” Wonderful other ways can you acquire weapons,” he added. You can get a line item in the budget with the city, but that could come with all kinds of democratic hurdles to jump through”, Sierra- Arévalo said. So I’m never surprised that when someone shows up and says they can help the police skip all of that, the police follow suit.
The Baltimore Police Department weathered common criticism in 2008 after one of its traded- in service weapons was used to kill two children as they walked home from a slumber party in Oklahoma.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated at a news conference in April that officers are given the option of purchasing their duty weapons for individual use before having the weapons exchanged for credit. If an officer buys a gun and wants to resell it later on, they must second offer it up to the department.
” We are aware that there are some issues in the country,” Scott said. ” For BPD, we’re really diligent about what happens when we have weapons retire”.
Baltimore County’s police department, which is independent from the Baltimore city police department, adopts a unique strategy. In 2013, it traded in its ancient guns to a firearms dealer, but under the terms of the agreement, important parts of the guns were destroyed, a spokesperson said.
James Johnson, who served as the Baltimore County police chief from 2007 to 2017,” I felt throughout my entire career that police departments should not be in the business of putting more guns back into our society,” he said.
In 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly approved a requirement that the Sheriff’s Department destroy firearms it no longer needed. Janice Hahn, a board member, expressed her hope that the decision will serve as a model for the rest of the nation. ” Those of us at the regional level should do what we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals”, she said. ” We all can wait the entire day for Congress to pass simple laws to prevent gun violence.”
” Police departments should not be in the business of putting more guns backwards out into our society”
Some police departments claimed that they were never physically distributing firearms directly to the general public because they were reselling to gun stores and other federally licensed gun dealers.
In an email, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth Police Department, Buddy Calzada, said it would be “inaccurate” to report that the agency resells guns to the public.
He then went on to explain how the department resells firearms, saying that “in rare cases, the department has traded small amounts of firearms up to the dealer where it purchased them from and received credit for more recent weapons.” ” It is important to note, any guns sold by a dealer are sold only to qualified buyers who have passed the Federal background checks”.
According to domestic records, the department resold more than 1, 000 guns to two dealers over the past ten years. The department declined an interview request.
Making an Appeal to Gun Purchasers
Using sales records obtained by CBS News from dozens of police departments, reporters identified roughly 50 gun dealers whose business includes buying and reselling withdrew police weapons. Some are self-styled police-supply stores that also sell handcuffs, flashlights, and different tools used in law enforcement.
Police- supply companies that buy and sell firearms have to hold a provincial gun dealer’s license, which allows them to sell guns to members of the public. The ATF can inspect them with the license, but interior records reveal that the agency has long been toothless and diplomatic, with the majority of its inspectors ejecting warnings rather than harsh penalties for dealers who break the law.
To encourage better practices among suppliers competing for attractive public contracts, some California cities have passed measures to prevent local law enforcement from doing business with gun dealers that have been cited for serious violations during inspections. However, the majority of the time, law enforcement does n’t have to take a dealer’s compliance history into account when awarding contracts.
Lindsay Nichols, policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said police have a moral and social responsibility to do business solely with gun dealers that follow best practices. There are a lot of requirements that an organization could put on a gun store as a condition of getting their weapons, she said. ” There are lots of gun stores out there. You are not required to sell to any specific business.
ATF inspection records show that one of the most famous buyers of used police guns has a long history of violating federal regulations.
Between 2005 and 2023, LC Action Police Supply, based in San Jose, California, purchased more than 3, 000 firearms from 11 various law enforcement agencies, including the one used in Cameron Brown’s murder, according to records obtained by CBS News.
Over that same period, the ATF cited LC Action for 30 violations of national firearms laws, including failing to conduct background checks and report suspicious gun sales, records show. After the company was cited for six violations in 2005, an ATF inspector advocated for the suspension of LC Action’s license to sell guns, but the recommendation was overturned by agency higher-ups.
The ATF inspected LC Action four more times between 2009 and 2019, uncovering many of the same violations. The organization gave the business the right to maintain its license to sell weapons.
LC Action did not respond to various requests for comment via phone and email. When a reporter and a photographer from CBS News Los Angeles went to the retailer’s showroom and requested to speak with a representative, they were instructed to leave.
An ATF spokesperson said the agency does not comment on certain cases, but as a standard matter, the outcome of any licensing action involving a gun dealer is dependent on the underlying facts and circumstances. The spokesperson added that the ATF’s policies and procedures were put in place to promote public safety by ensuring that federal law is administered pretty and consistently.
In 2021, the Biden administration ordered the ATF to implement a zero- tolerance policy on lawbreaking gun dealers, a step that has led to an increase in license revocations.
Employed police guns are common among gun buyers because they’re frequently in good condition and reasonably inexpensive. They even typically have large ammunition capacities and are designed to hold big- to medium- caliber rounds.
Larry Brown Jr., a firearms instructor and president of the Atlanta-based Bass Reeves Gun Club, claimed he saved money by purchasing a used police gun because it already had glow-in-the-dark sights and a specific trigger that made it easier to shoot.
” The price is on point”, Brown said. Police trade-ins are generally better equipped and much souped up than what I would purchase new. That’s what made me buy the one I have”.
Deactivated police weapons have exploded in popularity thanks to the demand for them, with gun dealers snatching them up in droves.
” Every now and then, I’ll get a call from my reps saying,’ Hey, we got a bunch of police Glock 22 trade- ins for a excellent price. If you’re serious, they’re all in good condition, according to Mark Major, the owner of 2- Swords Tactical &, Defense, a gun dealer in Lithonia, Georgia. ” Typically, police trade- ins are kept up by the armorer in the department. They do have some scuffs and rubbing from being in a holster, but they still function.”
Online forums and blogs promoting the benefits of used police guns are common, and there are dozens of YouTube videos featuring gun dealers and enthusiasts showing off large shipments of the weapons to entice prospective buyers.
One of the store’s employees shows off a rolling cart piled high with assault weapons, as well as several boxes of pistols and shotguns, all of which were previously owned by former police officers, as shown in a video posted next month by AimSurplus, a gun dealer in Monroe, Ohio, on its website.
” You guys love our police trade- ins”, the employee says. ” And why should n’t you, too?” They’re amazing. We only received a complete truckload in.”}]] The Trace, CBS News, and Stations worked together to create this story. Candace Leslie received a call that she will never forget as she was leaving church. ” Most I heard was his girlfriend yelling in the phone, and she was like,’ Cameron! Cameron! … He wo n’t get up. He wo n’t get up!'” Someone
This story was produced as a partnership between The Trace and CBS News and Stations. Candace Leslie received the call that she will never forget as she was leaving church. “All I heard on the phone was his girlfriend screaming and she said, ‘Cameron!” Cameron! … He won’t get up. He won’t get up!’ ” Someone
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