The Cincinnati Police Department will no longer send retired firearms back to the manufacturer Smith & Wesson, choosing to destroy the weapons instead.
"The accessibility of guns on our streets, both legal and illegal, is contributing to the gun violence problem that we're seeing in our community," Mayor Aftab Pureval said. "And the idea that we would send service weapons back to the manufacturer so they can just sell them and get them back on the streets struck us as inconsistent with our goals."
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Pureval says Police Chief Teresa Theetge suggested ending the buy-back program.
The city was getting a discount on purchasing officer firearms by trading in retired weapons. Mayor Pureval proposed using $500,000 in the annual carryover budget to cover the cost of losing that discount.
City Council voted 8-0 Wednesday to approve the first portion of the carryover budget. In total, $65 million was left over from the fiscal year that ended June 30.
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The ordinance passed Wednesday includes adding to various rainy day reserve accounts and one-time spending projects. About $15 million is still available for Council to spend this year.
