Police to Auction Guns!
While we at Firearmstruth.com occasionally note our disagreements with law enforcement on the issue of firearms right, and point out that we don’t believe events such as gun buybacks actually “get guns off the streets,” we are pleased to offer kudos to the Twin Falls Police Department. The Magic Valley Times News is reporting that the police are auctioning off firearms that were evidence and are no longer needed. The paper notes:
“The department plans to sell an estimated 91 firearms that are no longer needed for criminal justice purposes, and revenue is slated to go into the city’s general fund.” Read more
Newsday Makes Dubious Claim About Illegal Handguns
New York Newsday reported on a buyback in Nassau County, and how police paid up to $200 per handgun. The interesting part is the dubious reporting:
“A gun buyback program run by the Nassau County police department Saturday at a church in Rockville Centre was responsible for taking 173 illegal but operable handguns off the streets, police said.”
How do the police know – or the reporter for that matter – that these were “illegal” handguns? And does this mean that guns that were registered and legally owned couldn’t be turned in? That seems highly biased. So was this a case of bias in the buyback, or just biased (and inaccurate) reporting?
Bronx Gun Buyback a Success?
Numerous New York City media outlets are reporting about the “successful” gun buyback in the Bronx, which netted nearly 1,200 firearms… and cost city taxpayers some $184,000 in the process! Of course the NYPD put a good spin on it, according to The New York Daily News, which noted that the police claim to have gotten more than 5,000 “guns off the streets” in recent years:
“We’ll never know, but that’s potentially more than 5,000 lives saved,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during a press conference at Police Headquarters.
Yes, Police Commissioner Kelly, we’ll never know. We’ll never know if one of these guns was even handed in by a criminal. We’ll never know how many criminals now look to steal guns to sell them for $200, with no questions asked. We’ll never know how many people sold guns that were worthless (or at least worth less than $200) to get a quick score from taxpayers. We’ll never know how many valuable firearms were handed in for a mere $200 as well. We’ll never know.
Gothamist.com Says “Everyone Loves Bronx” Gun Buyback
Who exactly is everyone? According to Gothamist.com “Everyone Loves Bronx Cash4Guns Program,” and the article even has this introduction:
“According to everyone involved, yesterday’s gun buyback in the Bronx was a marvelous success.”
Sure, the police love it, because it takes NYC one closer to a police state. The churches that held the event love it, because they can claim to make a difference whether they really do or not. But everyone surely doesn’t love it. As a New York resident I loathe these buybacks, in part because I know real criminals aren’t handing in their firearms.
WPIX Says Gun Buyback a Win-Win, We Say it is a Lose-Lose
In New York City WPIX reported that four Bronx churches held the second annual gun buyback program to “get illegal handguns and other weapons off the streets.” But is this really a win-win? People were paid about $200 for each “eligible weapon” – whatever that might be – but were limited to three guns or $600.
And do we really think any criminals, drug dealers, gang members or thugs handed in anything? So were any guns actually taken off the streets? And how many potential value and historically important firearms will be turned over to the police? We say this was a lose-lose-lose. A loss for anyone thinking the streets in the Bronx are safer, a loss for anyone who sold a firearm for a mere $200, and a loss of history.
Are Gun Buybacks Just About “Illegal Guns?”
New York Newsday seems to suggest that a Suffolk Sheriff’s Office upcoming “Gun Buyback Program” is about “illegal guns.” That seems like either like a stretch, or is just more biased reporting. While the message is typically about “getting guns off the street” this one implies that buybacks are about illegal guns – which in turn seems to imply that all guns are illegal:
“Hand over an illegal gun, get a $50 Visa gift card.”
After all, if you legally own a gun, are you not able to take part in the Suffolk buyback? So while the intent maybe about taking guns off the street, the message is guns should be illegal. At least that’s how we read this one.
Gun Buyback in the Bronx
Yet another attempt to “get guns off the streets,” this time in New York City’s The Bronx, an area that unfortunately has no shortage of guns actually on the streets. The question is whether $200 for each firearm turned in would even be enough to persuade anyone to do so?
Of course, maybe it is enough money, at least if this item from EmpireStateNews.net is to be believed:
“Handguns, rifles and shotguns will be accepted, however guns belonging to either active or retired law enforcement officials are not eligible for the buyback program. Functional BB guns and air pistols may be exchanged for a gift card.”
The problem we see time and time again is that the value assigned to the gift cards seldom has anything to do with actual value. We realize this is an attempt to get people to hand in guns for something, but “functional BB guns” are being compared with rifles and shotguns? Amazing!
Who Guards the Guards U.K. Edition: Cop Sells Handed in Guns
Ever wonder if those guns that were part of buybacks were really destroyed? On the one hand we feel a sense of loss just thinking that some potentially rare and valuable firearms (valid parts of history in our opinion) might end up being destroyed. But what a more disturbing outcome – namely those very guns (which probably weren’t on the street) ending up in criminal’s hands? The Daily Telegraph offered this bit of news:
“Two policemen have admitted their involvement in the selling of guns handed in to police by the public to be destroyed.”
So should we worry that many of those gun buybacks could be supplying illegal guns? It can’t happen here, right?
Gun Sales Up in 2009, Crime Down
With a “new” decade comes the usual “end of the year” and of course “end of the decade stories” in the mainstream media. It is worth noting that technically the “new” decade should begin in 2011 – There was no year “zero” so if the calendar begins with Year 1 AD, then 10 AD is part of the same decade. Flash forward and 2010 is the final year… but the media says it is a new decade, so you can’t argue.
But there is something else that few in the mainstream media are reporting, and this is far more important. The year actually saw an increase in gun sales yet crime is down. Meanwhile, the last month has been filled of stories about gun buybacks, and “taking guns off the street.” So unless people were buying firearms for $200+ a piece, or taking advantage of those specials to buy surplus/vintage military rifles for $80+, and then handing them in for $20 food coupons, there is really no way to explain why gun sales were up, yet crime was down.
Could it be that law-abiding citizens could own guns responsibility? Maybe in this “new” decade that is something the mainstream media will report on, but something tells us that it won’t happen. So for that reason, we’re not going anywhere.
Gun Owner Turns in 58 Guns!
According to The Los Angeles Times some “58 guns are off the street,” in Los Angeles County, where a single individual turned in the firearms in exchange for supermarket gift certificates.
Once again, we must question whether any of these were actually “on the streets,” or whether this individual just robbed a gun store over the holiday weekend. Either way this is a great piece of propaganda for the police. And if these were really were guns the owner had managed to obtain legally, he likely traded in tens of thousands of firearms for small change.
