The Liberal Gun Club Forum

A standing room-only crowd of 100 arrived in downtown Bismarck on Wednesday night to bid on 22 guns — rifles, pistols, revolvers, shotguns and pellet guns.

This was not a gun show or private auction: It was an event hosted by the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department, and it took place in Courtroom 301 — a place where people more often lose their right to carry a gun.

A new law requires the department to auction found, seized and forfeited guns to the public, unless they can be lawfully returned to their owners. So the department set up its first sale of crime guns and found firearms just upstairs from its offices.