A few weeks ago, we did a story about a rare gun auction held by the county to clean out their evidence locker of 30 years. What weirded me out was that these guns obviously have killed people or else they wouldn't have been in the coroner's office. I guess that is what guns do, but it still fascinated me that bidders could easily look past the suicides and homicides. All the officers I spoke with felt the same gross tingling, but attendees didn't see old dried blood in the barrels. They saw collector's items.
Below is my favorite photo of the jam-packed warehouse that showed off the weapons. Karson was the only pink in the room, and I think her expression echoes my same unsettled feeling.
Karson Williams, 3, of Mamont watches hundreds of men, including her father Joe Williams and grandfather Bob Knabb, inspect 97 confiscated guns before bidding during a public auction at Westmoreland County Public Works in Greensburg on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014. The guns had been in the coroner’s office evidence locker for as long as 30 years. Some of the weapons are high-quality, some collectible and many were used in suicides, Coroner Ken Bacha said. State law requires the coroner’s office to sell off unclaimed property, including guns, at public auction. This sale is the first the county has had since Bacha’s father, Leo, was coroner in the 1980s.