SKOWHEGAN — Somerset County commissioners are considering whether to encourage the sheriff to start selling firearms forfeited in connection with a crime, rather than destroy them.

Sheriff Dale Lancaster told the Board of Commissioners in January that his office’s policy is to destroy guns that a court orders to be forfeited in connection with a criminal conviction. But at least three of the five commissioners appear in favor of looking into the possibility of auctioning off some of those guns.

The discussion, which has been ongoing among county officials for months, continued at the commissioners’ regular meeting Wednesday in Skowhegan, when they discussed a proposed bill in the Legislature that would require more forfeited firearms to be destroyed.

LD 411, presented by Rep. Melanie F. Sachs, D-Freeport and sponsored by several other Democrats, would require the destruction of all guns ordered to be forfeited under Maine’s sentencing provisions. State law currently requires authorities to destroy guns used in murders and other homicides.

The three Somerset County commissioners at Wednesday’s meeting considered two questions: Whether to take a stance on the bill and whether to change Somerset County’s policy.

Both topics were tabled for further discussion, as Lancaster and two of the commissioners — John Alsop of Cornville, who represents District 4, and Cyprien Johnson of Madison, who represents District 2 — were not able to attend the meeting.

The county has left it up to the Sheriff’s Office to create its own policies for disposing of acquired property, including forfeited firearms, but requires the Sheriff’s Office to keep records of the disposal and report them to the Board of Commissioners.

The commissioners added the record-keeping requirement last year following the attempted ouster of Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright, Somerset County Administrator Tim Curtis said.

Among the Oxford County commissioners’ complaints about Wainwright was a lack of records and information pertaining to his disposal of firearms. Gov. Janet Mills, the only person in Maine with the authority to remove a sheriff, ultimately rejected the commissioners’ petition to remove Wainwright.

In her decision, Mills wrote that Oxford County’s policy about the gun disposal was ambiguous and that it would have been “prudent” for the sheriff to have support from the commissioners when he traded in the guns for credit from a dealer.

Lancaster, the Somerset County sheriff since 2015, told the commissioners in January that his position on what to do with forfeited guns has changed in the last decade.

“I’ve just had a lot of time to reflect on it. I mean, I own guns. Everyone has a right to own a gun. I never want to see that compromised,” Lancaster said at the time. “What I’ve evolved to is that if a gun is used in a crime, I don’t want to be gaining profit from that.”

Many of the guns in the possession of the Sheriff’s Office are “junk guns” and likely would not generate much revenue, Lancaster said.

“The money that you’d get from that is pennies on the dollar,” Lancaster said. “If that gun gets back out into the community and something happens, for me, it’s not worth the headache. If the commissioners want me to auction those guns off, that’s a discussion we can have.”

Commissioner Scott Seekins of St. Albans, who represents District 3, has suggested that Lancaster consider selling some of the guns, rather than writing them all off as “junk” without an appraisal from a dealer.

“I don’t know how much money can be made on the firearms that have been forfeited, but I’m also of the mindset that each little bit helps,” Seekins said Wednesday.

Chairman Robert Sezak of Fairfield, who represents District 1, and Commissioner Joel Stetkis of Canaan, who represents District 5, appeared to agree with the idea of working with the sheriff to change his policy.

The commissioners acknowledged that some guns, such as those without serial numbers, could not be sold.

Sezak said Wednesday that the Maine County Commissioners Association, of which he is vice president, is monitoring the bill in the Legislature. He and Stetkis both said they were concerned it would give the state power over a policy that has been set at the county level.

“If we could sell them, it would help our bottom line,” Sezak said.