Even Newark’s Mayor Believes Gun Buybacks Don’t Get “Guns Off the Streets”
This week NewsroomJersey.com noted there was yet another buyback of firearms in the Garden State, but this one noted that among the guns actually turned in included automatic weapons. More impressive is that the media actually noted that these buybacks don’t really work:
”Cory Booker, Newark’s Mayor, said he was impressed and shocked by the program. Some people turned in AK-47s and automatic weapons this time around, according to the mayor, whereas gun buy backs don’t normally get the weapons off the streets that are crucial. Cory Booker, Newark’s Mayor, said he was impressed and shocked by the program. Some people turned in AK-47s and automatic weapons this time around, according to the mayor, whereas gun buy backs don’t normally get the weapons off the streets that are crucial.”
The question to ask now is that if the mayor doesn’t think these are getting weapons off the street, then what is the point of holding these events?
Gun Buyback Program Runs Out of Money
Here is some irony, in New Jersey residents are only allowed to buy one handgun a month, but yet the Emanuel Christian Church in Newark was able to run a “cash for guns” program, and essentially ran out of $50,000 reports NJ.com. First, we need to ask how can a law be trusted if there are exceptions like this made?
Why should the church leaders be allowed to buy back so many guns, especially when law-abiding citizens are not allowed to do so? And second, and more importantly, isn’t this just another feel good story that will make no real difference? Again, we feel that old people turned in guns in need of money, and likely made far less than if they were able to sell those guns to collectors, dealers or hunters. But of course law-abiding citizens could only buy one gun a month, so that made that fact a moot point. And finally, we’ll ask again (and never will stop asking), does anyone really believe that this is getting guns out of criminals’ hands and off the street?
Could Gun Turn-ins Turn Dangerous?
This weekend The Los Angeles Times reported something extremely upsetting. During a cash for guns event, something unexpected was handed in:
“The Inglewood Police Department was expecting to see handguns, sawed-off shotguns and assault rifles at its Gifts for Guns exchange today. The live hand grenade took officers by surprise.
“They discovered the grenade about an hour after the event started, in one of several boxes of loose ammunition a man surrendered in exchange for a $100 American Express gift card, said Lt. Mike McBride of the Inglewood Police Department.”
Firing Back: My Guns Aren’t “On the Street”
Time and time again, politicians including my own mayor (Mike Bloomberg of New York City) talk about how tougher firearm laws get guns off the street. But let’s consider a few points. Nearly all my firearms are stored out of state, and I do this because it is the ONLY legal way I can keep these guns. So most of the year I have no access to these firearms. If I had them in New York City these would be safely locked away as well. Either way these guns would never be “on the street.”
There have been countless gun buy back programs across the country with the intention to “get guns off the street.” And the bigger problem is that the mainstream media continues to praise these events for helping “get guns off the street,” while at the same time labeling anyone standing up for firearm rights as a “gun nut.” The point that we’ve tried to make time and time again is that criminals probably aren’t handing in their guns for cash.
Worse, there have even been increases in thefts of firearms in the days leading up to such events. And why not? Most of these are events are cash for guns, no questions asked. Perfect way to score some fast money. Steal a gun, hand it in, and the evidence of the crime is melted down. The problem of course is that such firearms were never on the street. But something tells me that many criminals will continue to be on the streets and armed.
Troy Police “Try to Get Guns Off Streets”
No one wants guns on the streets and in the hands of criminals, but the way the mainstream media keeps on reporting about it, it seems like a bigger deal than it actually is. And the latest example of this is from News10.com in Albany, New York. The site is reporting:
“The Troy Police Department is trying to get guns off city streets. The department is getting ready to hold its first ever gun buyback program.”
Do Gun Buy Back Programs Get “Guns Off the Street?”
That’s the message from The Buffalo News, which reported this weekend that a gun buy back program helped “get 711 guns off the street.” That was the headline, so we can’t (necessarily) blame the staff writer for that bit of reporting. On the positive side the article did include this fact, which we glad to see:
“Some studies show the programs are ineffective at lowering crime rates and getting potentially harmful weapons off the streets.
“In 2000, Lawrence Sherman, a University of Pennsylvania criminology professor, conducted a study for the U. S. Department of Justice and noted there was no direct correlation between gun buyback programs and the reduction of crime.”
Chicago Gun Buy Back: Was it a Success or Failure?
This weekend the Chicago Police Department had a gun buy back program, and WITN called the “program a success,” but was it really? The Chicago Sun-Times reported that “5,000 fewer guns” were turned in this year compared to last year’s event. The paper noted that the buy back couldn’t really be considered a success:
“This year’s total — 1,887 — was significantly lower than last year’s take of 6,800 guns, officials said.”
This was the fifth year the program has been running. But it is interesting to note that WITN would call this year’s event “a success.”
