Confiscated weapons on display

Probation officials on Monday showed off more than 200 confiscated weapons, the result of three months of searching Nevada felons.

Firearms ranging from a fully-automatic MAC-10 to a pen gun were on display in the Parole and Probation Division's Carson City office, as well as several knives and other hand-built weapons such as bats and shivs.

Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety Director Richard Kirkland said all but one of the guns will be cut up by the Nevada National Guard.

"One of the weapons confiscated was a 1860s and 1870s era derringer," Kirkland said. "We will probably donate that to a museum."

The weapons were confiscated during searches of the homes people who have been placed on probation.

Kirkland said the MAC-10, a form of machine gun, was the most dangerous of the weapons.

"It may not be easily concealable, but it is very dangerous," he said.

A tiny pen gun, also known as a zip gun, is the size of a fountain pen and can hold a single .22 caliber bullet.

"More people are killed by .22s than any gun on the planet," Kirkland said.

Reyn Johnson, Parole and Probation unit manager, said sometimes whether something is considered to be an illegal weapon depends on where it is kept.

Johnson said the department recognizes that box knives and other things that could be used as weapons are sometimes tools used in a probationer's job.

Then it is not so much what the probationer has but where it is kept that determines if the item violates probation.

"If they have a box knife it needs to be kept in a tool kit or belt," he said. "If it's found on the nightstand, then it becomes a weapon.

Operations Manager Frank Foht said the MAC-10 was found under a probationer's mattress as he was sitting on it.

"During one drug search in Lyon County we took 14 weapons out of one house," Foht said.

According to Kirkland, the weapons were from all over the state and were worth more than $50,000.

"This seizure provides a graphic example of the types of firearms parole and probation officers often discover during contact with offenders," Kirkland said. "Nevada's citizens are certainly safer by our officers' diligent work in getting these weapons off the street."

Kirkland said firearms are destroyed three times a year.