Statham police want to sell old machine gun

STATHAM - The Statham Police Department wants to sell a military-grade submachine gun that the city has had in a vault since the 1970s.

Police Chief Steve Martin said he's not really sure why the city bought the gun more than 30 years ago, but it would be a great investment now for a gun collector.

"It looks like it's been fired a few times, but not much," said Martin. "And, it's not something in modern day policing that would have any application. I don't think it would have been something that they would have carried in police cars back in the 70s either."

Martin said the department would use any money raised from the sale to buy equipment that his 10 officers can actually use on the job.

"What we are hoping to be able to do is equip all of our police cars with AR-15s as patrol rifles in addition to our shotguns," said Martin.

The estimated value of the weapon, according to gun trading websites, is between $5,000 and $8,000.

Martin said he's asked the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to run a check on the old gun to make sure it can be sold or traded for new equipment.