Guns are tools. Nothing more, nothing less. While they’re potentially dangerous tools, they’re still just tools. They don’t possess a mind of their own, much less their own motives. While they can be used to do bad things, they’re also used to protect the innocent.

However, that fact doesn’t stop a handful of liberal state senators from Georgia who want to destroy guns in police custody rather than selling them to licensed dealers.

From The Truth About Guns:

In 2012, the Georgia Legislature passed a statute to forbidding the police to destroy valuable firearms. The statute requires that firearms in possession of police — whether confiscated, seized or otherwise acquired — be sold to legal dealers. Once administrative costs are covered, the money from the sale goes to the general fund of the administering political subdivision. When the law went into effect, a number of Georgia political subdivisions violated the law with impunity. The chief amongst them: the City of Atlanta. Guns sold at auction by police usually bring between $100 and $200 each. Atlanta was sitting on at least 6,000 guns more than two years ago. Atlanta has likely added two thousand more guns since then. Assuming $150 per gun, and eight thousand guns, that is $1.2 million dollars the city refuses to put in its general fund. The figure doesn’t include the cost of storing and securing the valuable property, or the cost of organizing a sale. Three Democrat senators, Lester G Jackson from Savanna (top of post), Ed Harbison from Columbus (posing in front of the flag above), and Gail Davenport from Jonesboro (posiing in front of the flag below), have introduced legislation to allow police to destroy legal, valuable, guns. The legislation would repeal of the 2012 law.

As TTAG notes, this law has about as much chance of passing as a bill to issue a full-auto rifle to every man woman and child would have of passing in New York City. This is Georgia we’re talking about here.

That said, the Atlanta area has always been the more liberal part of Georgia, one that has often tested the state’s preemption laws regarding guns. They’re used to thinking the rules don’t apply to them. The legislature says no trying to keep guns out of public parks, Atlanta keeps trying to keep guns out of public parks. They simply don’t care what the state says when it comes to guns…and the Atlanta taxpayer is the one who foots the bill for these failed efforts time and time again.

Now, on top of their previous wastes in trying to test state law, they’re also refusing to put a million or so dollars into their bank account?

No, this is just pure, unadulterated stupid.

Guns are not the problem. Anyone with half a brain will know that the problem has nothing to do with guns, especially ones sold by licensed dealers.

No, all these antics do is deprive poor people of inexpensive firearms that they could then use to defend themselves. Low-income neighborhoods are the ones most likely to be inundated with crime, making those who live there the ones most in need of personal protection.

These senators aren’t helping these communities by trying to deny them arms, they’re trying to hurt them.