This Pennsylvania town is turning confiscated guns into electricity

Here’s one way to solve two problems at once: turn your guns into electricity.

The Upper Darby Police Department announced Wednesday that a cache of confiscated weapons would be melted down and converted into electricity at a Pennsylvania trash-to-steam plant, the Delco Times reports.

The seized arms include hand guns, rifles, shotguns, assorted ammunition, bows, arrows, and at least one ax that was used to threaten a police officer.

Police superintendent Michael Chitwood explained his reasoning for this environmental solution to taking illegal weapons off the street.

“We’re going to destroy them all,” Chitwood said. “This is our way to make sure these guns don’t hurt anybody again. This is what officers deal with on calls.”

Chitwood said that around 150 guns were purged from the evidence locker after being taken following “domestic violence calls, assaults, shootings, drug arrests and suicides.”

“We even have a hatchet that was used to attack an officer,” Chitwood said. “This long gun was carried by a man who walked into the Dollar Store. We arrested the man and took the gun. We only had one justifiable homicide this year. It was an elderly man who was attacked and had a concealed weapon and shot the man. We gave him his gun back.

…

These guns will never ever be used to assault anybody.”

Chitwood says that the department actually does this every two-to-three years, but notes that “it’s been maybe five years since the last burn.” (It’s actually been three). The department has more guns in storage, but they have not yet received the court-granted permission to dispose of them.

Following the press conference, the weapons were loaded into a van and taken to the vats where they were melted down.

“Years ago they used to make nails with them, now its trash-to-steam. Maybe it will be your electricity next week. I don’t care what happens. They’re gone and all disposed of.”

Superintendent Chitwood seems like he’s good police.

David Matthews operates the Wayback Machine on Fusion.net—hop on. Got a tip? Email him: [email protected]