Gun buyback program being considered to fight local crime

[unhappycamper]

http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/gun-buyback-program-being-considered-to-fight-local-crime/article_d800df35-53a8-5301-9fb8-7ad5dd108af1.html



Police Cpls. J.C. Renew and Melissa Peterson carry away guns collected during a buyback program in Winston-Salem earlier this year. The city gave away $10,000 in exchange for guns in just over an hour.

Gun buyback program being considered to fight local crime
By Nathan Hardin Staff writer
Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 5:43 pm | Updated: 6:52 am, Thu Aug 14, 2014.

Clergy members and government officials are considering a gun buyback program aimed at replacing firearms on the street with retail gift cards.

The Rev. Mark Rowden, who has spearheaded efforts to curb gun violence since last fall, said a group of pastors and city and law enforcement officials is looking to private businesses for financial support of the initiative.

~snip~

Rowden, of Savannah Baptist Church, said the program would be modeled after Winston-Salem's gun buyback initiative earlier this year. That program, which was split into two collection dates, used donations, city money and the Winston-Salem Police Department's forfeiture fund to pay out nearly $33,000 in cash and vouchers for surrendered firearms, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Between the two collections, the newspaper reported, the city took in 280 handguns and 193 rifles or shotguns.

[pipoman]

1. wouldn't "buy back" indicate that the guns once belonged to whomever is buying them back?

I can hear the rattling of drawers and closets digging out the $20 'tomato stake' shotguns and rusty iver johnsons. Such a waste of tax money.

oh, and a bunch of cop's collections growing with the occasional pre-ww1 1911s turned in by unknowing widows...

[armed_and_liberal]

3. Keep shining that NRA turd

Gun buybacks work to get unused weapons out of homes where these forgotten and usually unsecured weapons are susceptible to theft. Local cop I use to shoot with says 25% of the weapons they recover in crimes are stolen from homes and automobiles. Of course these buybacks could be more successful if gun enthusiasts didn't take advantage of these programs to dump the junk parts guns they buy at gun shows.

[pipoman]

4. There are supposedly 300 million guns in the US

I suspect more. No amount of "buy backs" can even near change the black market availability or have any statistical effect on anything. It is a waste of money. If these people want to rid themselves of guns, why do they have to pay them at all? Of coarse they will get a bunch of $20 junkers when they are paying $50 or $100 each.

[packman]

2. Trade in that piece of shit

So you can go out and buy one of those state-of-the-art assault rifles. Trade up, not out. Should have issued food or medical cards, not money for God knows what.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Ten grand would buy a few groceries. Could even give a new food bank a running start. eom

[Lee-Lee]

6. I don't know what is saddest about gun buy-backs

Is it the fact that 95% of what gets "bought back" is nonfuctional junk not worth what they paid out, or old guns not likely to be used in a crime, and since it was broken and old you didn't change crime likelyhood a bit?

Or is it the other 5% that are probably worth far, far more than the paltry $50-100 paid, effectively ripping off the person who brings it in not knowing any better- and usually this is a poor person desperate to get that $50-100 who doesn't know that WW-1 or WWII relic is worth hundreds or even thousands more if they take it in to a good reputable gun dealer? If anyone else set up shop one day and was giving inner city residents $100 gift cards for $1000-5000 antiques we would call them crooks.

Probably the saddest thing is that with $10,000 you could bulk buy 10,000 simp trigger locks from programs available. 10,000 trigger locks distributed would do far more to stop accidental shooting or theft (they are cable locks so it can also be used to lock the gun to in place) than this program will buying junk guns and ripping off people with valuable antiques.