Camden NJ gun buyback. This is astounding.

[Skidmore]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/19/1171901/-Gun-Buyback-in-Camden-NJ-Yields-Huge-Trove-of-Weapons

Forgive me if this has been diaried earlier. I just saw astonishing photos from the recent gun buyback program in Camden, NJ that took place last weekend in the wake of the mass murders in Sandy Hook.

In addition to the developing White House response and the many citizen petitions, we should take advantage of the public's renewed desire to voluntarily give back their guns.

According to Philly.com::

A state-sponsored cash-for-guns program for Camden County residents picked up 1,137 firearms over two days, a record number for the state, officials said Tuesday.

New Jersey's attorney general said some of the gun owners who showed up at two Camden churches Friday and Saturday appeared to be motivated by the mass killings Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut....

[a geek named Bob]

1. wow...

That's a lot of guns...

[ellisonz]

2. The gun crowd will tell you...

...that buybacks don't work because only "old" guns are turned in and that criminals use them to get rid of crime guns. They've gone as far in some places as staking out across the street and trying to buy the guns from people who want to turn them in. They are wrong, wrong, wrong.

[Skidmore]

3. Andrea Mitchell just reported on this buyback and she said that 90% of these guns

were in working order.

[ellisonz]

4. It would be my guess...

...that in the long run these programs pay for themselves too.

[Skidmore]

8. I would think so too.

Reduction in crime rates and injury or death due to gun violence are just starters. How much safer can people feel in their communities because there are less of this type of weaponry around? Have we forgotten how to feel safe?

[ellisonz]

10. "Have we forgotten how to feel safe?"

No, but we sure are confused about how to get to that point.

[a geek named Bob]

7. dumb question: who is Andrea Mitchell? n/t

[Squinch]

22. She's a reporter/anchor on MSNBC

[a geek named Bob]

23. oh, that explains it...

I haven't watched TV since I took it apart

[lastlib]

24. "Reporter"

emphasis on the quotation marks.....

[CreekDog]

36. Many were "community guns" --guns hidden around town for anyone to use

"According to Chiesa, “plenty” — although he could not give a precise figure — had been “community guns,” stored in Dumpsters or under street lights and available to anyone who knows their location."

http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2012/12/camden_cash-for-guns_program.html#incart_river_default

[a geek named Bob]

5. sources? n/t

[ellisonz]

9. Not hard to find...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117210737
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/05/gun_buyback_lapd_sons_of_liberty.php
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/13484760-418/group-turns-tables-on-chicago-gun-turn-in-uses-money-for-gun-camp.html

You can find a good half dozen DU threads just like that.

[a geek named Bob]

13. thanks

It looks like those three articles are providing proof that the buy-backs need some more planning...

[ellisonz]

14. Or that the gun crowd need to stop sabotaging them!

What type of scum of the earth opposes taking unwanted weapons off the street?

[a geek named Bob]

16. if that's not a rhetorical question, I can only make guesses n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. I used to know some coppers who would do just that.

Wait outside the gun buy-back and pick off the primo and antique valuable guns.

cops/criminals - a fine line.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

28. Can't you just be happy and proud of citizens of Camden...

for at least one post before you start in with putting words in people's mouths and pointing out how right you are?

Jeez, this turnout is awesome and I'd guess that a lot of the 'gun crowd' turned out to sell back their weapons.

I'm from Philadelphia and know Camden...if this can happen there it can happen any and everywhere; this is a beautiful thing to see.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I am glad all those side arms are off the streets

But that photo has not one AR or AK family riffle that I can spot.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. Yeah but look at that pile.

Outside of the pistols for the most part I see Rifles and Shotguns not Assault Weapons but old hunting guns. Every little bit helps but I wonder if some of the buy back money is going toward the purchase of newer and deadlier weapons.

[bongbong]

12. Those guns

Will make some nice plowshares.

[a geek named Bob]

15. 'cuz when you've been hit with a plowshare, you know it... n/t

[NightWatcher]

18. looks like garbage guns to me. If they would only offer more $$$ (maybe closer to market value)

And focus the buyback to WORKING handguns and dangerous weapons. A rusted out break barrel 20 gauge shotgun shouldnt be what they pay for. This is a waste of money for whomever is putting on the buy back.

Maybe they could get the money from the buy backs from criminal fines for people illegally using firearms or other sources. I doubt anyone would take a $1000 gun and give it up for the max of $250 that was offered in cash or grocery vouchers.

It may look impressive all stacked up like that to someone who doesnt know too much about firearms, but it looks like a waste of money and effort to me.

[PD Turk]

19. Dusty,rusty old guns

Last edited Wed Dec 19, 2012, 05:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Most probably unused and unkept for years, in a closet or attic, most of what I see in the pics is just plain old junk, and that's mostly what they'll get unless they increase what they are willing to pay.

[Dems to Win]

20. People who love children more than guns are turning them in. Bravo

They don't want to take even an infinitesimal chance that the guns will be stolen and used to massacre human beings. They don't want to be the next Nancy Lanza.

People who love guns more than they love children are frantically buying more and higher powered guns. Their selfish desire to play with lethal toys blinds them to the risk of their hobby. They don't care that they are taking the chance their guns will be used to massacre children in the local elementary school.

It sickens me that more Americans are frantically buying weapons, and bragging about it, than there are Americans melting down their guns.

Some days its hard to love my country.

Repeal the Second Amendment Now.

[oldbanjo]

25. People who have no money but do have junk guns are bring them in.

They better watch the police or some of the good guns will go home. A lot of police have lost jobs their for carrying guns home from the police Dept.

[KittyWampus]

33. it's been specifically stated in this thread that 90% are in working order

access to too many guns is a huge issue.

[xchrom]

21. Excellent. Nt

[graham4anything]

26. OF COURSE, not one of the guns belonged to any person resembling the shooter I bet

you know, the racist stereotype that NRA and others promote as for their reason for needing a gun

you know, like Zimmerman was fearful of in Florida when he followed and killed an unarmed man

Isn't irony something though? All the decades of talk about who "THEY" are afraid of, and 99% of the mass killings is done by those that look just like the ones who are the face of the NRA

I bet NONE of these guns were from NRA members.

Imagine if, like people burned their draft cards in the 60s, people took to the streets and burned their NRA memberships

[Glaug-Eldare]

32. I think I just threw the card out.

I should've taped it to some cardboard and shot holes in it

[graham4anything]

35. lol

[Myrina]

27. So do people take the $ and go to the gun store for something newer, bigger, meaner?

[OneMoreDemocrat]

30. Yes, of course...

That's the whole idea.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED that people here don't see this for what it is !!!!!

Most of the guns in the picture are 'gateway guns', small caliber, do very little damage. Once you've shot enough small animals and other targets provided by Almighty God for just that purpose, then you naturally want to move on to larger weapons that cause as much harm and carnage as possible.

I'm so glad you had the fearlessness to lay bare the truth (!!).

[KittyWampus]

34. do you have any actual proof of what you just wrote? Any reports on these buybacks?

[OneMoreDemocrat]

37. Nope, I made it up...

But, I DO have this:





That good enough?

[HockeyMom]

29. NJ has a Republican Governor

AND is in the Connecticut Tri-State Area. Why aren't MORE people demanding their gun rights, as are so many going on a gun owning spree in other states far, far away from Sandy Hook?

Culture.