Gun Turn-in Taking Place in Salem, Mass.

The Salem News is reporting that the police in Danvers will hold a gun turn in on March 25, and that guns and ammo turned in will be handed over to the state police for destruction. The paper offered this take:

“The idea for the program came following multiple calls each year from residents who had old guns — usually ones that belonged to a deceased relative — and now they don’t know what to do with them.”

 This is a shame to hear about, because in many cases those “old” guns could be worth a lot of money. More ominous is that residents who want to “take advantage” of basically throwing away potentially valuable items need to contact the police, and a set up time needs to be arranged or the police can come pick up the item. What is upsetting about this is that it was noted “residents who want to drop a firearm or ammunition need to have a firearms identification card.” What if someone changes their minds about handing in the guns? Couldn’t they face a visit from the police?

 The paper added that Danvers police will not even pay for this gun turn in, however, it noted that residents who wanted to try to sell the firearms can contact a licensed gun dealer. I’m sure no help is given at all for the latter option. This sounds a serious scare tactic to us.

March 18, 2010 | Filed Under News Feature, Police, Second Amendment | Leave a Comment 

Oakland Gun Buy-Backs to prevent 1000 Future Murders?

It’s an amazing headline but that’s exactly the kind of deceptive, inaccurate message organizers of Oakland’s recent gun buy-back program are trying to spin to legitimize spending $250,000.

The concept of “gun buy-backs” as a methodology for reducing firearms availability and violence could only come from the minds of people who really can’t see the forest through the trees. Consider the recent buy-back in Oakland, California that offered $250 for any working firearm, no questions asked. With a budget of $80,000 allocated, that money was handed over to gleeful sellers in minutes leaving hundreds of armed citizens (or were they criminals) lined up on a public street waiting to sell their guns. According to USA Today, Oakland police chief Wayne Tucker made the decision to continue to “purchase” the firearms and issued IOUs totaling some $170,000. It’s not clear where the additional $170,000 spent will come from. Despite the fact that Oakland, like most of California is broke, Democratic state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata called the program “cathartic” reinforcing the contention that in liberal ideology results matter less than the “feel good” factor. Couple that with a complete distain for the Second Amendment and you have nearly the perfect “happy, happy, joy, joy” program.Sure, it looks great on paper but don’t expect any real results.

Read more

August 19, 2009 | Filed Under Buyback, Firing Back | Leave a Comment