ELKINS, W.Va. State Treasurer Riley Moore delivered three unclaimed property checks totaling $37,808 from the September firearms auction Wednesday.
The Randolph County Sheriff’s Department received a check for $4,143.75; the Elkins Police Department received $5,703.50; and the Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force received $27,960.75.
Last month, the auction in Charleston included 627 guns and 300 pounds of ammunition, and the amount raised beat the previous record of $141,000 set in March.
“Last month when we did this auction, we raised more than $176,000 that benefited 18 different participating agencies from around the state of West Virginia,” Moore said.
The events are not open to the general public but only to federally licensed firearms dealers. For the September event, 63 federally licensed firearms dealers, including 26 new dealers, from six states registered to bid for the auction.
“Not only is it a win for the police departments, but there are a lot of deals for gun store owners in West Virginia,” Moore said. “It’s helping small businesses and police departments.”
Before the law changed to allow the auctions, police departments destroyed the firearms when they no longer needed them in a criminal case. In some cases, the weapons sat in storage areas for years until this program began.
“We had several police departments taking part in this to begin with, but now we have police departments all over the state of West Virginia getting money out of this now, so it’s really great,” Moore said.
Since 2014, there have been 12 firearms auctions, and during his term, Moore said he has raised more than $753,000 since he has been in office.
“We know police are always running on tight budgets,” Moore said. “As you know, in West Virginia, we’re a state that is not about defunding the police; we’re about funding the police.”