If you”ve had a gun confiscated by the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office in the last five years and want it back, head to the pawnshop.
The LCSO emptied its evidence locker Monday at the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors meeting when it awarded 96 guns collected over the last five years to Gary”s Pawn and Gun.
The lot includes weapons confiscated during arrests, old department-issue revolvers and guns turned in to the sheriff”s office. For the most part it”s composed of standard weapons: shotguns, rifles, .40 caliber automatics and such.
LCSO training officer Marc Miley also pointed out some classic pieces in the lot, like an old Springfield Armory .45 automatic, and odd pieces like a tiny, four-barrel pepper box .22.
There”s also a fair amount of rubbish: countless cheap automatic 9 mm”s, a wobbly AK-47, and rusty .38 caliber revolvers.
Gary Dedeaux, owner of Gary”s Pawn and Gun, entered the high bid on the lot with an offer of $8,190. Having previewed the lot before entering his bid, he knew many of the guns weren”t fit for resale, but making a large profit wasn”t his intention.
“I did this to help the county out,” said Dedeaux. “Had these guns been in another state I would not have bid what I bid. In this day and time it”s tough out there for a lot of these departments.”
Still, Dedeaux is a businessman and expects to, at least, break even on the purchase.
Those weapons not worthy to be sold, he said, will be sawed in half in accordance with Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulations.
Sheriff Butch Howard said the money raised from the sale will likely be used to purchase new weapons for the LCSO.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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