“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.”

We at Firearmstruth.com already believe that these events do little to actually get guns off the streets, and instead of merely public relations events to make people feel good without doing any real police work. But the situation is far worse it seems.

Because these events are “no questions asked” we have to ask again whether evidence from crimes, stolen guns or worse – namely dangerous items such as live grenades – might not be handed in as well. In the case of the first item, how many criminals are hoping the evidence is handed in and destroyed, possibly making convictions impossible? In the second case, how many stolen guns are destroyed and never reunited with owners? And in the third case, how long until tragedy strikes at one of these events?

“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.
“That has been a popular refrain among opponents of stricter gun control.”

First things first, that notion “guns don’t kill people,” has never really been used by opponents of stricter gun control. No true, law abiding gun owner would make such a stupid statement, but apparently bloggers such as Pete Thomas continue to misquote this notion… stupidly.

This was all in response to a story that ran in The St. Petersburg Times on a gun mishap at a shooting range. While the reported story was that a 9mm handgun “suddenly went off on its own,” it does unfair for Thomas to pass judgment, especially as the police plan to inspect the firearm to determine what may have led to its malfunction. Until this time, it is irresponsible for Thomas to state, “it turns out that guns — all by themselves — can at least injure people.”

Freak accidents are just that accidents, and at this point a number of factors could be at play, but one thing is certain, firearms need to be treated responsibly not feared. Now if only the mainstream media, and bloggers could treat the topic of firearms with equal responsibility there might not be such fear of these items.