Confusion over a new gun law has lawmakers scrambling to re-write the language in the bill. No official changes can be made until the next legislative session in January.

The law sends some gun auction proceeds to the state instead of to counties, where they’re needed most.

The intent of the bill was to ensure that confiscated guns are returned to their lawful owners if they’re innocent. There are also new rules for agencies auctioning off guns that have been used in crimes.

The law allows for “municipal corporations” or cities, to keep the money from selling confiscated guns. But the bill doesn’t reference “counties,” so any profit from a county auction would go to the state.

Democratic Representative Barbara Massey Reece from Menlo, says no one caught the glitch when the bill passed earlier this year:

“We had no contact from the county commissioners or law enforcement groups that were concerned about the bill, so it just slipped by everybody, the wording itself slipped by a lot of people.”

Floyd County attorney Tommy Manning advised county commissioners to hold off on auctioning any weapons until lawmakers tweak the law:

“And I think there’s certainly an argument, it may be the better argument, that the county could go ahead and conduct the auction now, but the language in the new law is somewhat ambiguous, so it’s not absolutely clear that’s the case.”

A legislative committee is currently drafting a new bill to introduce next year that would clarify that counties can keep gun auction proceeds.

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