Police illegally sell restricted weapons supplying crime

A CBS News investigation found dozens of law enforcement leaders illegally selling firearms across 23 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Washington , D.C. A review of government audits and court records over the last 20 years uncovered at least 50 cases of police illegally selling their weapons online, through dealers, out of their homes or the back of their cars.

In many cases, the weapons were sold to gun enthusiasts, often at steep markups as high as 10 times what they were bought for.

CBS News found a trail of activity in social media videos and online forums frequented by firearm aficionados discussing how to entice law enforcement allies into this illicit trade.

In Iowa alone over the past five years , there were more than 1,200 machine guns registered to law enforcement across the state.

The ATF only started vetting every machine gun application for the first time in January 2023 .

During his first administration, Trump revoked an Obama -era executive order restricting the transfer of military equipment from the Defense Department to law enforcement nationwide. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment..