Surplus firearms are in such high demand that a program to help local law enforcement officials buy inexpensive leftovers from federal and state agencies is backlogged with requests and has temporarily been halted.

Since June, the state Central Services Department has received about 640 requests for surplus weapons.

Most of the requests are for military-style assault rifles, said Oran Redden, property reutilization division administrator.

The state has participated in the federal law enforcement surplus program since 1992. About 1,400 guns have come to the state through the program since then.

“It’s a massive amount of paperwork to get these guns out,” Redden said. “They are forever government property, so it’s like they’re on loan.”

Redden said a federal rule change in 2010 allowing more guns to be dispersed coincided with increased requests for firearms.

Redden said the division will stop processing new gun requests for as long as two months to catch up with the volumes of paperwork for requests already received.

The paperwork to get a gun can take as long as seven months to complete, Redden said. After that, the state keeps track of how the weapons are used for as long as the requesting department has them.

Fee increase

Along with temporarily suspending the processing of new requests, the division is looking at increasing fees.

It costs $25 to buy a surplus gun through the program. The division is considering increasing that fee to $50. Some military assault rifles requested through the program can cost about $1,000.

Stacey Puckett, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, said the requests coincide with smaller departments’ need for more munitions.

She worries even a small delay in processing will hurt law enforcement, and an increase in fees could prevent smaller departments from buying the surplus weapons.

“Nowadays we’re dealing with gang and cartel issues that 10 to 15 years ago we didn’t have in Oklahoma,” Puckett said. “They have fully automatic weapons. Law enforcement needs to be as prepared as those they’re trying to apprehend.”

She said there is a legitimate safety need for the weapons, or departments wouldn’t be asking for them.

State agencies and local law enforcement officials also are able to buy armored personnel vehicles, Humvees, planes, vests, boots, evidence lockers and other equipment at a discounted rate through the program.

Those won’t be affected, Redden said.

Help for local police

Forest Park Police Chief Amanda Bittle said the program has been helpful since budgets have been tight.

“Some states don’t even charge a surplus fee,” she said. “Increasing the fees would make it impossible for some agencies to even get these things.”

Bittle said the climate in Mexico is affecting law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma who are trying not to be caught outgunned.

“It’s an officer’s worst nightmare to show up and not have enough firepower,” Bittle said.