VIDEO: Lee County Auction

LEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- It was a chance for members of the community to get some bargains and according to attendees, guns were the most popular item at today’s Lee County Auction.

There were all kinds of items at the auction including plenty of vehicles and even a vintage tractor. There were also power washers and lawn mowers. Outside the Lee County Ag center there were boats ready for purchase to the highest bidders.

Dalton Christian’s auctioneering company puts on this event.  He says many of these items were obtained by law enforcement agencies.

“A lot them come from the drugs seized. We do it twice a year for North Mississippi Narcotics. They have a lot of cars in here. We sell for the city of Tupelo, for Lee County several of the other counties,” says Christian.

He says an auction is the best way for the agencies to sell surplus items.

“It’s really an advantage for the county, for the cities for the government because it’s a fair way for constituents to come and buy. It’s a fair way of disbursing of the goods. You know it’s all out in the open and gives everybody in the community the chance to come out bid on the surplus product,” says Christian.

Even though participants in today’s auction came shopping for everything from cars to power tools by the size of the crowd it is evident that people in Mississippi love their guns.

But was there a sale price?

“Not on the guns I tell you. They’re going sky high. We just sold a gun for 900-hundred dollars over there,” says Cantrell.

About a hundred of today’s auctioned firearms were brought by Monroe County Sheriff Cecil Cantrell.

“We got these guns from criminals in our county Monroe County. We brought them up to sell. A lot of them were from drug dealers which we brought up here. Of course we had to go through the court system to get them cleared before we could sell them. We’re just taking these guns out of criminals hands and putting them in the hands of good people that will use the guns correctly,” says Cantrell.

He says he wouldn’t be surprised that if at least part of the reason for the frenzied buying of guns was out of concern for who might be the next president.

“It sounds that way. You a lot of people that are running for the presidency you’ll hear them talk about it. You know want to do away with us being able to buy our guns which you know, we have the right to own guns and it’s right for people to be able to protect themselves,” says Cantrell.