Lancaster Buyback Buys Back 43 Guns, Will It have Any Impact?

Spinning the news is where you make something sound better (or worse) than it should appear to be, and The Lancaster Herald certainly did this with the headline and deck: “43 guns off Lancaster streets; Minister thinks buying back weapons will have impact on the community.” Of course we disagree, but this is just how the news is spun to make these silly events seem important. The paper further reported:

“Officials in Lancaster took more than 40 weapons off the streets, most of which were working guns, in a gun buy-back program over the weekend.

“The Rev. Otis Lathan of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church was called to action by recent shootings and deaths in Lancaster County. Lathan paired with the Lancaster Police Department and the Lancaster Alternative Policing Strategy to organize Saturday’s buy-back.”

We’ll ask first whether there is any proof any of these weapons were on the street? In this particular case – a rarity we’ll add – the paper did mention that one seller claims to have found a gun in a ditch, so finally a gun that was truly near the streets if not on the streets entirely. But how many of the other 42 guns were merely in a closet, or basement or doing no harm to anyone?

Second, we’ll ask whether any of these “working guns” were worth more than the $50 paid out? We’d guess probably most. And we’ll ask whether any of these guns might have been potentially historically significant as well?

But the issue is that this is just another case of spin. With all due respect to Rev. Lathan, he can’t really know for sure if this will have any impact. And we’d like to mention that this event took time, money and resources. Wouldn’t a day of police patrols and solving crime, cracking down on corners where gangs hang out possibly have had as much of an impact on the community?