Local news reports
The Buffalo Police Department may be looking into using a rarely enforced law to help keep unused and unwanted guns from falling into the wrong hands.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda recently said the department will be sending people to collect guns that once belonged to pistol permit holders who have died.
It's a plan that has some gun owners and 2nd Amendment advocates up in arms.
"The idea of the police confiscating them is repugnant not only to the 2nd Amendment but certainly the 5th and 14th Amendment, which don't permit deprivation of property without due process," said attorney Steve Cohen.
Cohen, an attorney at Hogan Willig who specializes in constitutional law, said there is a legal avenue for the estate to dispose of the weapons.
"There is a section in the penal law that says that the state has to dispose of the weapon within two weeks, maybe 15 days. The reality is, when somebody dies, the family can obtain, the state representative executor can obtain a certificate of non-destruction. They can turn these firearms into a police department and have somebody with an FFL, Federal Firearms License, a gun store, sell these weapons for the estate," said Cohen.
"It's not an attempt to restrict anybody's gun rights or take property from people. It's just an attempt to ensure that the proper disposition occurs with these weapons," said Renaldo.
According to state law, the estate of a deceased person has 15 days to dispose of that person's firearms or surrender the firearms to a law enforcement agency.
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