A recent bit of local Massachusetts news has revealed that the Cambridge, MA police department may be reducing its weapon inventory by up to 20% as well as making a few other changes to its equipment roster. According to news source Wicked Local, the push to reduce the weapons inventory of the Cambridge Police came about after the department released a full inventory of its stores that was open to the public. Aside from the move to reduce the guns of the department, there is some disagreement over the methodology by which the reduction will take place.

Photo: Jim Davis/ Globe

Cambridge Police Commissioner makes Plans to Reduce Gun Inventory

From my own personal observations over the years, when police departments and other law enforcement agencies retire firearms and equipment, they usually go about this by auctioning off said equipment to the citizenry. I, myself have purchased several retired police weapons at decent prices over the years. However, in the case of the Cambridge police department, this isn’t the case.

Photo: Cambridge Police Department

Police commissioner Dr. Granville Bard was moved by a local activist to not only reduce the weapons inventory of the police department but also eliminate the use of camouflage uniforms. In regards to the firearms, however, Bard has chosen to destroy the guns being retired as opposed to auctioning them off as per State statutes. However, this still may not be possible if Bard cannot get around the law.

Statute requires me to auction them off, but the object is for the guns not to end up back on the street. “What I’m going to have to do is engage the city solicitor to try to seek an exemption so we can destroy the guns as opposed to auction them. So you may hear me use language like ‘retire’ or ‘reduce’ as opposed to ‘get rid of’ because I’m not sure I can right away until I follow some procedures to be able to destroy the weapons.

Photo: Cambridge Police Department

Personally, I believe that not only should the guns to bac to law-abiding citizens who probably need and/or want these firearms, but I also think that the department is missing out on a good chunk of change that could reduce their budgetary concerns if the real aim of this move is to please the constituency of Cambridge. As part of the firearm stock being “retired,” some sniper rifles, shotguns, M4 rifles, and some less-than-lethal weapons will all be removed from the Cambridge PD armoury. The department currently owns four Benelli Super 90 shotguns, 63 M4 rifles, and 5 Remington 700 rifles. Curiously, no talk of retiring any of the full-auto capable H&K rifles has been mentioned by any sources thus far.

Image: Cambridge Police Department