(a) The sheriff shall keep and maintain a permanent record of all abandoned or stolen firearms, not subject to disposition by general law. The records shall state the description of the firearm, the date of recovery of the firearm, and the serial or other identifying number, if any, of the firearm. Firearm as used in this part shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 13A-8-1.
(b) Unless otherwise provided by law, the sheriff may sell or destroy these firearms if the owner of the firearm does not claim the firearm within six months of the date the sheriff obtained it.
(c) The sheriff may sell the firearms only to gun dealers who have held an active business license in this state for at least one year immediately prior to the date of the sale. The sheriff shall establish a procedure to notify gun dealers of a sale. A firearm shall be sold to the gun dealer submitting the highest sealed bid. All sales shall be on a cash basis. The proceeds of the sale, after deducting and paying all expenses incurred in the recovery, maintenance, and sale of the firearms shall be paid to the office of the Sheriff of Blount County.
(d) The sheriff may establish a procedure to destroy firearms and may expend necessary sheriff's office funds for that purpose.
(e) Any firearm held by the sheriff on August 1, 2017, shall be subject to this section, but shall be held for at least six months after August 1, 2017.
Last modified: May 3, 2021