BENTONVILLE -- Brent Meyers wants to make crime pay in Benton County.

Meyers, justice of the peace for District 15, has proposed a change to Sheriff's Office policy to destroy most weapons seized during investigations. Meyers wants the county to sell those weapons that would be legal to own at public auctions.

"To me, it's a waste of money," Meyers said of the destruction of the firearms.

"I've collected guns for many years," Meyers said. "I consider many of them to be pieces of art. I think they should be sold at auction, not to a dealer because they make the money for themselves. The Attorney General says if it's legal to be sold it can be sold. I think it's a terrible waste of money."

Meyers said he didn't know the Sheriff's Office destroyed the weapons until recently.

"Originally, I was just joking with the sheriff and with Rob Holly and said, 'I know you guys auction off certain guns,'" Meyers said. "They told me that they actually destroy most of the weapons they seize."

Holly, chief deputy with the Sheriff's Office, said it's a long-standing policy to destroy most of the weapons seized once it's legal to do so. Weapons involved in criminal cases must be kept as evidence as long as the case is pending, said Susan Hall, an evidence technician with the Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office sometimes trades weapons approved for disposal with licensed firearms dealers for other items the office needs, Holly said. It's a way to save money and have some measure of control over the weapons, he said.

"We don't think it's a good policy to go selling these things at a public auction without the proper scrutiny," he said.

The county needs to be mindful of the potential for harm if the weapons were to fall into the wrong hands, Holly said.

"What would happen if we sell one of those weapons and it's used in the commission of a crime?" he asked.

Keith Foster, public information officer for the Rogers Police Department, said that department also destroys seized weapons. The department makes an effort to return legal weapons to their owners if they can legally possess the weapon, Foster said.

Legal weapons can be retained by the department after police obtain an order signed by a prosecutor and judge, Foster said. In other instances, illegal weapons are destroyed after a court order is obtained, he said. Weapons are only destroyed after the department obtains a court order, Foster said. The weapons are taken to Rogers Iron & Metal Co. where they are cut into pieces while two Police Department employees watch.

Maj. Rick Hoyt with the Washington County Sheriff's Office said that department has a policy similar to Benton County. The department sometimes exchanges seized weapons for weapons needed by the department, but that's rare, he said.

"We do not dispose of them at auction," Hoyt said. "We do sometimes trade them with licensed dealers. In the last 10 years we've done that twice that I know of."

The weapons seized and later destroyed typically have little value as firearms to collectors or individual people, Hoyt said.

"Some of the destroyed weapons are weapons that have been illegally modified," he said. "Some have been defaced by having the serial numbers removed. A lot of them are your 'Saturday Night Specials.'"

Rey Hernandez, justice of the peace for District 2, voiced his opposition to Meyers' plan when it was first presented, and he said he remains opposed to it.

"I think any weapons that came to the Sheriff's Office from arrests or other crimes are weapons that should not be released back into the public domain," he said.

"With his particular proposal, he's talking about handguns and non-automatic weapons, but I wonder how we'll look if one of those guns ends up being used in a crime and it comes out that the Quorum Court allowed that gun to be sold. Even if it's to a licensed dealer, do we want that to happen? No government is perfect. Our own government has sold weapons abroad that have ended up being used against us. As an ex-military man I don't believe we should be involved in proliferating weapons," Hernandez said.

Meyers said he will continue to argue for his idea. He's doing research on the legal questions and has found some Arkansas Attorney General opinions he says indicate the sales would be legal.

"I understand the other side of the coin," he said. "I know there are people who don't want to see more guns on the streets. I don't think the guns are the problem. It's people. I'm going to do a little more research and present it at the next Legislative Committee meeting."