There have been many academic studies showing that gun turn in events, also known by the propaganda term "buy back", have little or no known effect on crime. They are considered a waste of police resources. They are also a waste because there is no reason to destroy the valuable firearms collected, other than to send the propaganda message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.
Several states have enacted legislation to stop this practice. If those who organize these events wished to make them more effective, they would coordinate with private buyers so that valuable guns would be taken off the street and placed into responsible hands. This would help insure that widows who do not know how much their inherited guns are worth, would get full value for them. But the opposite occurs. Supporters of these events say that if the firearms are not destroyed, there is no reason to do the event.
At the event yesterday (6 September, 2014) in Cleveland, OhioCCW.org organized a protest of this use of public resources to make partisan political propaganda. This picture shows both sides of the billboard truck hired to repeatedly drive past the "buy back" event.
You would think that such a protest would be news, but it was ignored by most local media. At least one outlet, newsnet5.com proclaimed their partisanship by actively supporting the "buy back". 19actionnews.com did mention the opposition the to the event.
"Cleveland's violent youth and gang population will continue to kill people before and after the Cleveland Police Department's 'Buy Back,' confirming that these events are nothing but the collection of irrelevant firearms for the purpose of political theatre. OFCC's presence near the city's buyback event is designed to call attention to the wasteful and cynical nature of the program," said Garvas.These events tend to stop once their propaganda value is destroyed. Private buyers do much to defeat the message that guns are bad and should be turned in to the police.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch
Not to discourage turn in buyers, but don't gun shops have a way to tell if a gun is hot or not?
ReplyDeleteIf these idiots were so willing to turn in their guns, gun shops would give them more.
As long as they don't rush there in droves!
Even sell them on consignment.