Detroit Buy Back Nets 400 Weapons, Even Media Asks If It Will Do Any Good
The City of Detroit has faced some hard times in recent years, and this week the police used donated funds to buy back some 400 weapons. But as Time magazine asked, “Can a Gun Buyback Program Stem Violence in Detroit?” We have to say we don’t believe it can.
Darrell Dawsey, writing for Time, questions the efforts further, saying, “I still can’t shake the feeling that this program will end up as little more than a giant symbolic placebo. Feels good to note, sure. But will it do any real good in the city’s streets. I have my doubts.”
Dawsey sees the same problems we see. Criminals don’t hand in guns, and there should be better efforts by policing than just paying a pittance to get people to clean out their closets.
Kansas City Star Editorial Says U.S. Shares Blame for Mexico’s Woes
In an editorial for The Kansas City Star, Mary Sanchez notes “Mexico’s drug problems are ours, and vice versa.” That is debatable. She tries to offer a misguided history lesson, which is fine. But then she attempts to point the blame at American firearms, and that’s where her editorial needs to be called out. Read more
Cliffview Pilot Calls out Critics of Buyback
In a heavily editorialized “news story” for the Public Safety section of the CliffviewPilot.com community news site, publisher/editor Jerry DeMarco says that “Critics of Bergen’s first gun buy-back program are off-target.” He notes complaints from critics, but yet didn’t take the time to actually talk to any, and the points he addresses are vague at best. DeMarco notes that critics suggest the programs are futile, as the “antique” guns turned in – “both from World War II” he says” serve as an example of this.
As critics of these events, we don’t believe the buybacks are futile because World War II guns – which we wouldn’t exactly label as antiques, but that just shows that DeMarco doesn’t know guns – were among those handed in. It isn’t the age of the guns to us that matters. It is the fact, in this case anyway, that these guns were doing no harm to anyone. These were veteran bring-backs and were family heirlooms. How were these guns any sort of a problem? These guns could have been easily donated to a museum instead, and the owners would have gotten a tax credit likely that was more than the $75 they were handed. Read more
Bergen County Gun Buyback Includes Potentially Valuable Guns
We hate gun buybacks. We can’t say that enough. These in all likelihood fail to actually get guns off the streets, and pay gun owners in most cases a mere fraction of what the firearm was worth. We’ve reported on these events time and time again, but this past weekend a buyback in Bergen County, New Jersey just proved our point, as two potentially valuable World War II era handguns were amongst those handed in. Read more
Who Guards the Guards: Sheriff Deputy Cited For Carrying Two Guns While Drinking at Bar
The Ada County sheriff’s office has cited Deputy Ron Love for carrying a gun while drinking at a downtown bar in Boise, Idaho reports the AP via KHQ.com. The officer was riding a mechanical bull it seems when he was spotted carrying a gun.
Deputy Love was reportedly asked to leave the bar, refused and was later escorted outside by police. He was found to be carrying a .40 caliber Glock handgun, as well as a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, neither of which were his service weapon.
Firing Back: Politicians and Guns – Does the Liberal Media Get it?
Apparently the liberal media will always find a way to get upset about guns, even when there isn’t much of a story. The most recent example is how gossip site TMZ reported that Levi Johnston – father of Sarah Palin’s grandson – stopped in a gun shop while on the campaign trail. Not much of a story there, especially given that this stop took place in Alaska! That in turn was picked up by liberal rag the Huffington Post. Each offered snide comments on the issue – and TMZ even Photoshopped (badly) a rifle on a photo of Johnston. Our “friends” at the Huff and Puff have noted how guns (gasp!) have turned up at various political rallies, as if it somehow indicative of a plot to overthrow the government – instead of merely being an expression of the state’s understanding of the Second Amendment.
All this begs the question, does the liberal media not get it? Read more
Do Gun Buybacks Work Asks CT Post
Finally someone in the mainstream media is asking the question that we’ve asked time and time again, and that is whether gun buyback programs and special events actually get guns off the street. In a story for the CT Post this is not only asked, but it notes that under the Bush Administration the federal gun buy-back program was ended, and replaced with the federal state Project Safe Neighborhoods. Instead of looking to pay for guns, this program concentrates on prosecuting convicted felons caught with handguns. Read more
Illinois Congressman Calls to Close So-called “Gun Show Loophole”
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) has supports legislation to close the so-called “Gun Show Loophole” reports WGIL. The news site notes, “Quigley says the ‘guns show loophole’ is a gap in federal law that allows person-to-person sales at gun shows without a background check. Quigley says those weapons can end up in the hands of anyone, including terrorists, felons and the mentally disabled.” Read more
NPR Story, Big Year For Guns in Political Ads, “It is a scary world”
National Public Radio cited a so-called “locked-and-loaded list” of political candidates who are gunning for office with guns in their respective ads, and noted, “Well, it is a scary world.” This outright bias against guns has no place in political reporting from a supposedly “unbiased” news organization. Read more
Associated Press Doesn’t Call Out Calderon Lies
If an American politician suggested something that wasn’t true we’d expect the American mainstream media to call them out on it. Even when a foreign leader says something that is patently wrong, the MSM usually steps up. The exception is when it involves guns, and then the MSM just gives politicians a pass, as the Associated Press has once again done with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Read more
