L.A. County Sheriff's Department plans 'Gifts for Guns' buyback program Monday

[Redfairen]

Less than a month after the Los Angeles Police Department collected 2,037 weapons during a daylong buyback event, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is launching its annual “Gifts for Guns” program Monday.

Sheriff's deputies will be on hand in the parking lot of a Ralphs supermarket at 280 E. Compton Blvd. in Compton from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., exchanging weapons for gift cards.

“Anybody can go into any patrol station and anonymously donate their gun,” said sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. “But this gives them the opportunity to do that and receive some money.”

Weapons that have not been stolen are to be melted down and molded into rebar, Nishida said. The process is common among guns collected from buyback programs and department confiscations, Nishida said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/01/sheriffs-department-plans-gifts-for-guns-buyback-program-for-monday.html

[NYC_SKP]

1. If only the LA Times would publish a map of where the homes are that have guns!

...

Seriously, though, are they going to do so much as ask for ID?

If a newish gun comes in, in a state that has waiting periods and background checks, will they check out the person who brought it in and the gun's history?

Well, here's the answer, for better or worse:

“Anybody can go into any patrol station and anonymously donate their gun,” said sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. “But this gives them the opportunity to do that and receive some money.”

Weapons that have not been stolen are to be melted down and molded into rebar, Nishida said. The process is common among guns collected from buyback programs and department confiscations, Nishida said.

I guess they'll check backgrounds of the guns, but not of the people who bring them in.

It actually sounds like a perfect thing for gun manufacturers and for people who want to traffic guns anonymously.

How am I wrong in that estimation?

[REP]

2. I have a hard time believing someone would trade a new weapon for a $100 or $200 Target gift card

I know someone who recently legally sold his Sig 516 (through FFD with background check) for somewhat more than $200.00.

[NYC_SKP]

3. I have trouble believing anyone would steal a MacBook Air for a $20 rock.

And risk their life in the taking.

Alternatively, any such theft in the inner city could just as well be to buy some milk for the baby or make up the rent.

Poor is poor.

If we took care of our poor and hungry, if we didn't reward graft and greed, we probably wouldn't have much of a gun problem to begin with.

...

[REP]

5. I can believe anyone will steal anything

But a gun, stolen or legal, is usually worth more than a Target gift card.

I also don't trust the 5-0. I'd fear my turned-in gun would become a throw-down weapon.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Good point. If I'm a shady cat I'm holding out for more scrilla...

And, if I'm hungry enough, I might just grab what I know is somewhere in my building unattended.

So I take it, cash in, buy milk, find out the 'owner' busts me, and I'm now in a different kind of trouble.

I don't have a solution.

Maybe a super magnet that just sucks up all the guns?



....

[REP]

7. I don't think these gift-card things attract the shady element with working guns

I think it rounds up old, derelict guns people might have around the house that aren't worth much from law-abiding citizens. People like my law-abiding friend, who decided he didn't want to own a .223 anymore, aren't going to make a gift of a very valuable weapon to the local constabulary. Less law-abiding people may ditch broken or cheap guns at these events, but even the crack-fancier posited above would rather have cash or rocks - not a gift card that would take further effort to convert into cash and then rocks. There are always exceptions, if course; but these events are just more theater, designed to look and 'feel' good, but do little real good, in terms of public safety.

[NYC_SKP]

8. On the one hand, I hope you're right, on the other I would think that the last swap would have...

...picked up the worthless pieces.

Broken guns aren't cheap to fix, so good to turn them in, but I think you are 100% right:

The city can say, "we are DOING SOMETHING to fight this crazy gun violence!" without actually doing anything lasting or meaningful.

[REP]

10. There seems to be an endless sea of crappy Raven Arms .22 pistols

People get them because they're small and cheap, and many get disenchanted with them because they're small and cheap ... I hope Be nice if a lot of those get 'swept;' fewer crappy guns in the hands of clueless people would at least reduce the accident rate.

Of course, I'm an advocate of mandatory written/range tests, emphasizing safety, before one can take home a new purchase. The gun is legally owned by the buyer, but must remain on the testing premises until both parts of the test are passed. Not a panacea, but would help reduce death/injury from accidents.

[NYC_SKP]

11. And in the hands of kids.... Why is there not a full time gun buyback program?

Why does it only happen on years divisible by 17?

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. While doing copwatch on LA's Skid Row, I was told of something the LA sheriffs do to inmates.

It's called the "two-minute crew", any group of sheriffs who jump an inmate in their cell and see how much damage they can do to them in two minutes. I don't have anything more than the words I've heard about this, but from what I do know being true about them, I would never ever want them to have guns, and citizens none.

This sarcastic video shows a sheriff elbowing in the face, a homeless, special needs woman who was being unruly on a bus. They knew her, that she was special needs.

[petronius]

9. I hope the gift cards are donated, because as I've said in other threads I don't think

this is the most efficient use of law enforcement funds. But other than that, there's nothing wrong with putting some food on tables in exchange for a guns that are unwanted and probably neglected. People with working firearms will probably get short-changed on the deal, but perhaps the convenience plus the warm-fuzzy of helping 'get guns off the street' makes up for the monetary loss...