THAT’S BECAUSE IT ISN’T: Miami Police Try Hard to Explain How It’s Legal for Them to Ship Guns to Ukraine…and Fail Miserably.

The Miami Police Department currently has no export licenses or permit to ship firearms to the Ukraine, but they’re working on getting them, or at least they claim they are.

In a story published Wednesday, we revealed how the department has a gun buyback scheduled for Saturday, which they’re calling “GUNS 4 UKRAINE.” Miami Police spokeswoman Officer Kenia Fallat said that the weapons collected at the buyback will be shipped to the Ukraine for use in their ongoing war against the Russian military.

Their plan was fraught with legal entanglements, since shipping firearms to a foreign country without the proper paperwork violates federal law, specifically the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, known as ITAR. The plan also violates state law, specifically, Florida Statute 790.08, which regulates what police can do with firearms or other weapons that come under their control. Shipping guns to a foreign military is not one of the options allowed by the statute.

Well when you start — as most police do — with the assumption that gun laws don’t apply to them, you wind up in places like this.