A new state law prompts the Gwinnett County Police Department to sell its confiscated firearms to the highest bidder.

The Gwinnett Commission approved the contract this week with Gulf States Distributors, based in Alabama, to purchase 62 guns for $10,760.

Cpl. Ed Ritter tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish it’s only the second time the department has held a public auction for firearms that were seized during a crime.  Formerly, the police agency would destroy them.

“The bidder has to be a licensed firearms dealer,” he says.

He says the guns are the same as any found at Walmart stores, gun shops, or sporting goods stores.

The money raised from the sale goes back to the police department.

“If this is a way that we can lessen the burden on the taxpayers by selling these guns and utilizing that money to help operate our way of doing business, I think it’s a good thing,” says Ritter.

He says the department plans to hold auctions twice a year from now on.

The new law, passed as Senate Bill 350, also requires any firearms that are not being held as evidence in a criminal case be returned to their lawful owners.