The Oktibbeha County Sheriff”s Office is set to trade dozens of old and confiscated firearms to a gun dealer in Grenada for new Glock pistols as part of an effort to upgrade deputies” weaponry.
Sheriff”s office deputies use first-generation Glock 22 and Glock 23 pistols which date back to 1991 and have been worn down by years of shooting at the gun range, OCSO Chief Deputy George Carrithers said. Grenada Gold-N-Gun Exchange will replace 23 first-generation OCSO pistols with new fourth-generation Glock pistols at a cost of $9,867 as part of a bid approved Monday by the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors.
But neither Oktibbeha County nor the sheriff”s office will have to expend any funds. Grenada Gold-N-Gun Exchange will pay the sheriff”s office $5,727 for the 23 first-generation Glocks and another $4,140 for 26 firearms confiscated by the Sheriff”s Office, which will even the trade at $9,867 worth of guns transferred to each side.
“Our aim throughout this process has been to make this (deal) in such a way that it costs the county nothing,” OCSO Commander Brett Watson told supervisors Monday.
The Sheriff”s Office last month received an Oktibbeha County Circuit Court order to dispose of 105 confiscated firearms. Deals for additional guns could be forthcoming, Watson said. Several weapons not included in the 105-gun inventory , which Watson dubbed “Saturday night specials,” already have been destroyed, he said.
Both Carrithers and Watson touted the deal with Grenada Gold-N-Gun as a necessary upgrade for the safety of deputies and county residents.
“These are all really old guns, and there have been a lot of shots fired through them down at the gun range,” Carrithers said of his deputies” first-generation Glocks. “They”re just not that dependable when they”ve had that many rounds shot through them and this is the most important weapon we”ve got when we”re out there.”
“We have other firearms we need to upgrade, as well, but these are our most critical firearms,” Watson said. “These are the ones we carry at our side and the first ones that are available to us …”
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer was concerned at the number of guns confiscated by the sheriff”s office which haven”t been destroyed. He feared the weapons could end up back in the hands of criminals.
“If they were used for unauthorized purposes before, and if you put them back into the community, even though you”re going the proper route, they could possibly end up back in the hands of someone who is unauthorized again,” Trainer said.
Watson said a “vast majority” or the confiscated guns were not necessarily used in crimes. Some were confiscated during drug seizures or drug transactions, while others were turned over by the now-defunct Tri-County Narcotics Task Force.
“They were not necessarily used to commit a crime, but they were there,” Watson said.
The Sheriff”s Office can make deals for guns only with federally licensed firearms dealers.
Other business
In other business Monday, supervisors agreed to hold a public meeting next week to show residents a proposal from Georgia-based Omega Paving and Construction to improve county roads.
The meeting will be held Nov. 29 at 11 a.m. in the Oktibbeha County Courthouse boardroom. There, citizens can see firsthand a strategy proposed earlier this month by Omega to stabilize 100 miles of unpaved county roads with Pave-zyme, or PZ-22X, which is designed to create a cementing action when mixed with water and soil in a road base. Roads treated with PZ-22X then are covered with a chip seal surface pavement instead of asphalt.
Omega Paving President and CEO Thomas Settles told supervisors Nov. 1 the project would cost $7.5 million, of which the county would be obligated to pay $500,000.
Trainer on Monday called for a public meeting to show county residents “the ins and outs” of the proposal.
The Oktibbeha County Courthouse is located at the corner of Main Street and Dr. D.L. Conner Drive in downtown Starkville.
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