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Friday, December 28, 2012

Guns flood into police buyback programs, though critics have doubts about the idea

L.A. gun buyback nets 2,037 firearms, including 75 assault weapons

Gun_buyback
A one-day gun buyback event in Los Angeles on Wednesday gathered 2,037 firearms, including 75 assault weapons and a rocket launcher, officials said. The total was nearly 400 more weapons than were collected in a similar buyback earlier this year.
 

By Isolde Raftery, NBC News

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, cities and police departments across the country organized events to buy back guns, hoping, they say, that fewer firearms on the street translates to fewer shooting deaths.

In Los Angeles, a gun buyback scheduled for May was pushed up to Wednesday because, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told Marketplace.org, “People said, ‘I don’t want to wait on the Congress. I’m tired of the endless debates about responsible gun control legislation. I want to do my part.’”

That buyback in the Van Nuys district brought in 2,037 guns, including 75 assault-style weapons, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

Gun buybacks are proving so popular that U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., and Ted Deutch, D-Fla., have asked Congress to set aside $200 million for gun buyback programs, saying that amount could remove “one million guns from our streets.”

But critics say buybacks are a fruitless exercise – more political theater than effective policy.

“It’s like trying to drain the Pacific with a bucket,” Alex Tabarrock of the conservative Independent Institute told USA Today in 2008. There are an estimated 310 million guns in the U.S. -- about one for every U.S. resident.

PhotoBlog: Buyback in Los Angeles brings in hundreds of guns

A 2004 report released by the National Academies of Sciences called the premise for gun buyback programs “flawed.”

“The guns typically surrendered in gun buy-backs are those that are least likely to be used in criminal activities,” the report says. “Old, malfunctioning guns whose resale value is less than the reward offered in buy-back programs or guns owned by individuals who derive little value from the possession of guns (e.g. those who have inherited guns).”

Such criticism hasn't stopped police departments, which have hosted gun buybacks for years, encouraging residents to turn in their firearms – no questions asked – for cash or gift cards, usually $50 to $250. Some police departments offer a sliding scale, giving more money for semi-automatic firearms, which were used in the ambush on firefighters in Webster, N.Y., last week, the Newtown shootings two weeks ago, at the Sikh temple attack in Oak Creek, Wis., in August and in the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., in July.

Among those turning in their guns in events this month were parents and grandparents who told reporters they worried about having weapons around.

A grandmother in Brooklyn attended a gun buyback the day after the Connecticut school shooting on Dec. 14 and told gothamist.com that fatal shooting of 20 children -- most of them 6 years old -- moved her to hand in her gun.

TSA confiscates record number of guns at US airports in 2012

“It should inspire everyone,” she said. “We’ve got to protect our children. I couldn’t wait for today to come so I could get rid of it. The shooting yesterday was an eye-opener. It was bone-chilling.”

In Camden County, N.J., police heard from residents who wanted to turn in their weapons in light of the Newtown shootings. The buyback there retrieved more than 1,100 weapons, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

That buyback was so successful that officials handed out all of the $110,000 in forfeited money that the Attorney General's Office had provided. They gave $39,000 in IOUs that they will honor with future forfeited money. Nearly all of the guns were operable, according to the Inquirer.

In Ithaca, N.Y., the Police Department announced plans for a gun buyback to “remove unwanted guns from our community before they fall into the hands of those that may do harm.”

In southern Florida, an Uzi submachine gun “like the one used by Scarface” was turned in to a buyback sponsored last weekend by the Opa-locka Police Department, the Miami Herald reported.

Two Uzi-style guns turned up at a buyback Friday in San Diego that was sponsored by African-American ministers. That buyback retrieved 360 weapons before 10 a.m., according to The Atlantic.

Bill Stowers, 59, told the Los Angeles Times he attended the San Diego gun buyback because he worried that his 12-gauge shotgun might fall into the wrong hands given the break-ins in his neighborhood.

"I don't need this shotgun sitting around," Stowers said. He received a $50 gift card.

Reps. Connolly and Deutch, who proposed that $200 million be set aside for gun buybacks, say the gun buybacks would be a start, not a cure-all, to gun violence. In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, they wrote:


The murder of 20 youngsters and six educators in their classrooms has galvanized the public’s desire for immediate action, and partnering with the States on a nationwide gun buyback program is a modest, common-sense start.



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An Evanston police officer documents some information on a firearm that was turned in as part of an amnesty-based gun buyback program in Evanston, Illinois December 15, 2012. Residents were given $100 for each operational firearm given in, and no criminal charges would be laid. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW)



New Haven police officers catalogue guns being turned in during a gun buyback event at the New Haven Police Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, December 22, 2012. The program, sponsored by the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of New Haven and Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, offered gift cards in exchange for working guns. REUTERS/ Michelle McLoughlin (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY)




Assorted hand guns turned in during a gun buyback event are seen at the Bridgeport Police Department's Community Services Division in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 22, 2012. REUTERS/ Michelle McLoughlin (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY)



Hand guns that were turned in by their owners are seen in a trash bin at a gun buyback held by the Los Angeles Police Department following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in Los Angeles, California, December 26, 2012. The program normally occurs in May but Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accelerated the schedule in response to the December 14 shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, along with the gunman, and caused a national outcry against gun violence. People can anonymously trade in their guns, no questions asked, for $200 grocery store gift cards for automatic weapons and $100 gift cards for shotguns, handguns and rifles. REUTERS/David McNew (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY) 



 

An Evanston police officer holds a firearm that was turned in as part of an amnesty-based gun buyback program in Evanston, Illinois December 15, 2012. Residents were given $100 for each operational firearm given in and no criminal charges were laid. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW)



A small portion of guns that were turned in by their owners are stacked inside a truck at a gun buyback held by the Los Angeles Police Department in Los Angeles, California, December 26, 2012 following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The program normally occurs in May but Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accelerated the schedule in response to the December 14 shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, along with the gunman, and caused a national outcry against gun violence. People can anonymously trade in their guns, no questions asked, for $200 grocery store gift cards for automatic weapons and $100 gift cards for shotguns, handguns and rifles. REUTERS/David McNew (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY)


 

Bridgeport police officer Peter Garcia looks for a serial number on a rifle during a gun buyback event at the Bridgeport Police Department's Community Services Division in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 22, 2012. REUTERS/ Michelle McLoughlin (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY)




Police officers collect guns from people in their cars at a gun buyback held by the Los Angeles Police Department in Los Angeles, California, December 26, 2012 following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The program normally occurs in May but Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accelerated the schedule in response to the December 14 shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, along with the gunman, and caused a national outcry against gun violence. People can anonymously trade in their guns, no questions asked, for $200 grocery store gift cards for automatic weapons and $100 gift cards for shotguns, handguns and rifles. REUTERS/David McNew (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY POLITICS)



Pro-gun group uses Chicago firearms buyback program to fund shooting camp for kids

By Cristina Corbin
Published July 10, 2012
FoxNews.com


 

This photo, provided by "Guns Save Life," shows the group's rifles that were sold to the Chicago Police Department under the city's firearms buyback program.

A pro-gun group claims it flipped the script on Chicago's firearms buyback program by selling old, broken rifles to the city and then using the money to buy guns and ammo for an NRA-sponsored shooting camp for kids.

"Guns Save Life," based in Champaign, Ill., recently sold 60 firearms to the Chicago Police Department -- 10 of which were manufactured before 1898 -- in exchange for $6,240 in gift cards, according to group president John Boch. The sale also included five BB guns and a rickety pump-action shotgun that was held together by duct tape and zip ties, he said.

"They recognized it for the junk it was," Boch said of the sale. "At one of the locations, one of the detectives was very tenacious ... And hit the guys with a flurry of questions like 'Where the hell did you get these, from a graveyard?' "

But the department carried out the transaction anyway, and the organization used the proceeds to fund the youth shooting camp. Boch said the money earned is being used to buy rifles and ammunition for an annual summer camp held at Darnall Gun Works & Ranges in Bloomington, Ill.

"The real delicious irony here is that the city of Chicago is paying for rifles that we're giving away to young people as part of this camp," Boch told FoxNews.com. "The program was intended to get unwanted and unused guns off the street to make the community safer. We provided them unused and unwanted guns."

Unwanted, because "they just didn't work."

Chicago's gun turn-in program, dubbed "Don't Kill a Dream, Save a Life," was implemented with the goal of removing dangerous weapons from the street. The program claims on its website that a "gun in the home is more likely to be used in a homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting than in self-defense." The initiative cites alarming statistics on its website to bolster its argument -- such as the claim that "States with the highest levels of gun ownership have 114 percent higher firearm homicide rates and 60 percent higher homicide rates than states with the lowest gun ownership."

The police department accused Boch's group of "abusing" a program intended to fight Chicago's crime rate.

"The amount of gun violence in Chicago is simply unacceptable and the impact of gun violence is far reaching," the police department said in a statement. "There's a ripple effect following every shooting incident that we all feel. We host the Gun Turn-In event on an annual basis to encourage residents to turn in their guns so that we take firearms off our streets and it's unfortunate that this group is abusing a program intended to increase the safety of our communities.”

But Boch used his group's sale to mock the effectiveness of the city's program, saying, "Just look at the murder rate in Chicago – is it working?"

"There’s a heavy police presence at every one of those turn in locations," he continued. "What criminal is going to submit themselves to that kind of police scrutiny for a couple hundred bucks?"

"Guns Save Life" said it sold its firearms to the city on June 23. For every gun sold, the group received $100 in the form of Visa debit card, Boch said. They received $10 for each BB gun.

The youth camp, which caters to children ages 9 to 16 and is sponsored by the National Rifle Association, "teaches the next generation how much fun shooting sports are and how to handle guns safely," he said.



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