NATCHEZ — The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is cleaning out its closet — its gun closet.

Earlier this week, the Adams County Board of Supervisors approved a request from the sheriff’s office to sell guns at auction, and so now the guns that have been taken off the streets are headed back to the streets, sort of.

Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said the 135 weapons it plans to sell at auction June 21 are not service weapons, but instead are firearms and sidearms confiscated in the course of criminal investigations by both the sheriff’s office and Metro Narcotics.

“They are long guns, handguns, shotguns, pistols, revolvers — all kinds of guns,” Mayfield said.

Metro Narcotics Commander David Lindsey said most of the weapons Metro confiscates are handguns from people on the streets, but most of the long guns they seize are taken when serving search warrants in residences.

“Normally what we find are the cheaper model handguns, something like a Hi-Point 9mm, which you can buy at a pawn shop for $120,” Lindsey said.

In addition to the weapons it will be auctioning, Metro Narcotics has several rows of confiscated guns in a secure room at the Metro office. The collection includes assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns with pistol grips, cartoonishly large revolvers, Tec-9 pistols with extended clips and hunting guns. Many of the weapons are aging and rusted, and Lindsey said he would not trust many of the guns to be safe for use.

Other weapons are small enough to tuck into a boot or tall shoe.

Pointing at one small .22 caliber revolver, Metro Narcotics Agent George Pirkey said, “It looks like a kid’s toy, but it will kill you just as dead.”

Once a weapon is confiscated during a bust, Metro Narcotics will serve the defendant in the case with a notice of seizure of property. The matter will then be handed over to the District Attorney’s office, which will file a motion to seize the property with a judge, Lindsey said.

If the defendant decides to contest the seizure, the judge will conduct a hearing and then will award the property to the owner or to Metro Narcotics.

The same procedure is used for all seized property, Lindsey said, but most of the time defendants do not contest the seizure of guns. Once the guns are awarded to Metro Narcotics, Lindsey said they could be sold, stored or even put to use by in-service Metro agents if the weapon is in good enough condition.

Agents have to pass gun qualification tests for the specific weapon they want to use, but after that they are allowed to sign the weapon out, Lindsey said.

Martin and Martin auction company will sell the weapons at a location south of Hattiesburg. Mayfield said not just anybody will be able to buy them.

“This auction is going to be open to federal firearm license dealers only,” he said. “The general public can’t just come in (and buy them).”

While it’s not unusual for law enforcement offices to sell confiscated guns, Mayfield said this will be the first time the ACSO has done so in three years.

The proceeds from the sale will be divided between the ACSO and Metro Narcotics — the agency that confiscated the weapon will get the money — and Mayfield said the money would be used to buy new equipment.