Los Angeles Gun Turn In 'buy back' Cheats Many Innocents

Los Angeles police hosted another gun turn in event on Saturday, the 9th of May, 2015.  Experts agree that these events have no measurable effect on crime, suicides, or accidents.   California is one of the dwindling places where such events still occur without the competition of private buyers.  Private buyers offer higher values for the antiques that are often brought in by widows or other heirs, who do not know the value of the items that they are turning in.   From cbslocal.com:

“I wanted them out of my house,” explained Lynne Emile.
Her husband died three years ago and she dusted around two hand guns ever since – a burden she chose to get rid of.

You can see some classic handguns that were turned in in the picture above.  A 1911 type with what an early green Teflon type finish.  It is probably worth about $500.  The finish was a custom job popular in the 1980's and later.   There are two classic Colt revolvers that seem to be in excellent condition.   One is a Detective Special, the other, an early Officers Model.   They are worth about $600 and $1,200 respectively, far more than the $100 gift card that was received.   It is hard to say what other treasures there might be under the jumble of inexpensive imports from the 1960's.  I see at least one decent Smith & Wesson. 

I believe this is another image of the Colt Officer's Model on the top of  pile in the bin:



A number of long guns were also turned in.  You can see some of them on the display table.

The AR-15 type rifles are worth about $600 each, and an alert reader believes the scoped handgun on the left to be a Freedom Arms single action, valued at over $2,000.   There is another 1911 type above the Freedom Arms scoped revolver.

There were a couple of "illegal" guns turned in.  The short barreled shotgun shown below is likely illegal.   They were made illegal in the infamous National Firearms act of 1934, when a serious attempt was made to outlaw handguns.  It would not make sense to outlaw handguns, but allow people to cut down shotguns and rifles to make effective handguns, so short barreled rifles and shotguns were outlawed as well.  The short barreled rifle and shotgun ban passed.  The pistol ban did not.   The law ceased making any sense after the Supreme Court affirmed that handguns were protected under the second amendment in the Heller and McDonald decisions.




Short barreled shotgun in Los Angeles

Near identical firearms are now ruled to be legal under the National Firearms Act by the ATF.   The difference is that the gun in Los Angeles probably had a shoulder stock installed at the factory;  the Shockwave Technologies gripped model did not.  That is the sort of arcane difference that is common in U.S. gun laws.  Was a piece of wood attached at the factory, or wasn't it?   The difference is a potential $10,000 fine and 10 years in jail.    You might have to search factory records to be sure.

 Shockwave Technologies version made from a Mossberg 500 before a shoulder stock was attached.

It is hard for widows to take the guns to a gun store in California, because so many have been driven out of business, and people are fearful of contravening one of the myriad of confusing gun laws that the state has passed.  So a combination of ignorance and fear results in poor widows turning in thousand dollar guns for a pittance.

People who have more knowledge use the turn in ('buy back' is a propaganda term.  The government never owned these guns before)  to convert junk to money:

 Reese  told Benedict that the two rifles he turned in were both worth less than the two $100 gift cards he received.

 

This rusty Marlin .22, probably an 80, 780, or 880 series, is not worth much.  It is one of the rare guns destroyed by neglect. 

There are no legal private buyers, because California has outlawed them.   In California, you are not allowed to sell a firearm unless you first obtain government permission to do so, obtained from a licensed government agent. 

This has not had a measurable effect on the crime rate, but it may have increased the murder rate a bit.   In a study of gun shows in California and Texas, one of the only statistically significant results  were that at the relatively unregulated Texas shows, where guns could be purchased immediately, instead of with a 10 day wait, as in California, the murder rate with guns dropped in the two weeks immediately after a gun show.   One obvious explanation is that potential murderers wondered if their victim might have obtained a gun at the gun show.  The authors of the study were not happy with the answer that they obtained, and downplayed the results.

People are required to wait 10 days to legally obtain a gun anywhere in California, though a federal court has ruled the waiting period unconstitutional, at least for people who already own guns.   The Attorney General, Kamala Harris, has refused to follow the ruling at this time.

I expect that we will continue to see this sort of wasteful political propaganda in those states where there are many infringements on the second amendment.    Perhaps federal courts will eventually knock down more of the irrational and counterproductive California gun laws, but I do not expect it to happen soon.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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