Eight months later

the

Los Angeles County probation officers tried to auction off hundreds of guns they no longer needed, and county supervisors have barred all their departments from ever trying to do that again.

Supervisors unanimously approved a policy Tuesday that requires all departments to destroy firearms they no longer need, rather than profit from selling them to the public. While the policy applies to all county departments, it would likely have the greatest impact on the probation and sheriff’s departments.

The policy comes after The Times reported in January that the probation department had listed hundreds of 9-millimeter semiautomatic handguns that they no longer needed on a website called GovDeals, an online auction forum where governments can sell their weapons.

theirs

surplus property. On Tuesday afternoon, the location offered up 10 firearms obtained through judicial seizure from Georgia’s Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and a rifle seized by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

In late January, the probation department had placed a large shipment of firearms on the site, more than 300 pistols from Smith & Wesson and Beretta. One such weapon cost $25,000.

The auction, held just days after the fatal mass shooting in Monterey Park, sparked outrage over how the county was able to make a profit by pushing guns back onto the streets while another agency paid residents to surrender their weapons. Like many law enforcement agencies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department regularly hosts gun buybacks where residents surrender their weapons in exchange for gift cards.

The Board of Supervisors at the time called the probation department auction inconsistent with the county’s values ​​and deeply insensitive in the wake of a mass shooting that left 11 people dead. They voted to ask the Internal Services Department to develop a policy to prevent such sales. happens again.

Simply put, the county should not be putting more guns on the streets, Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district includes Monterey Park, said at the time.

The resulting policy, which takes effect immediately, requires all departments with surplus firearms to surrender the weapons

additional

weapons at a recycling center in Anaheim, which has contracted with the county to destroy them

the

surplus firearms. The new policy also requires departments with extra ammunition to transfer them

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the Sheriff’s Department for use in training.

The new policy is one of several steps the county has taken in response to the Monterey Park shooting, which happened about eight miles from the boardroom. A month after the shooting, the county voted to ban people from carrying firearms on county property, including beaches, parks and municipal buildings, and to ban the sale of firearms.

firearms with half-inch bullets and .50-caliber pistols

in unincorporated LA County.