I know the title of the article is already making you shit your pants in confused hysteria. Bear with me because this news comes from the child hating NRA but it looks legitimate. Studies have found out that gun buyback programs don’t actually stop violence.
Of course we in the gun community already figured this out because of one fact that crops up with this guy buyback programs:
“It’s highly unlikely that a person who would use guns for violence would turn them in,” said Gary Kleck, a Florida State University criminology professor who studies gun control.
Wait a minute you mean criminals not only will break the law but won’t turn in their tools when asked and given a cheap gift certificate? Truly shocking. Of course the local Sheriff chimed in:
Sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow concedes that would-be criminals are unlikely to surrender their guns. But he said the program might collect a gun that otherwise would one day be used in a crime.
“We’re trying to do something here that’s proactive,” he said. “Whether or not it works, how can you tell?”
So even he admits criminals probably won’t turn in guns, just law abiding citizens. And of course they are the ones we need to disarm after all because they may defend themselves. Of course he leaves a cop out in saying we can’t tell if it will work or not. But being Chicago has annual gun buybacks and one of the highest number of homicides in the country I think we can say pretty easily it doesn’t work. His further logic astounds me:
At a buyback event in May, the sheriff’s office collected 77 guns. Bristow said most of the guns were turned in by senior citizens. “Who’s to say that someone wouldn’t commit a burglary and steal that gun and then use it in a crime?” he said.
OK so you want people to turn in their guns because a criminal may steal them and use the stolen merchandise to commit a crime? In that case you should hold a car buyback program because some criminal may steal somebody’s car and use it as a getaway vehicle during the committing of a crime. If you have a burglary problem in your city maybe you should either work to stop that or let citizens take care of burglars themselves via their guns. Of course non-functional guns aren’t a threat but they get turned in:
A 2001 report on youth violence by the U.S. Surgeon General’s office says, “There is some evidence that most of the guns turned in are not functional and that most persons turning in guns have other guns at home.”
So really you aren’t getting functioning guns off of the street. After all why would somebody turn in a valuable gun for a pidley $50 to $100? Be we know gun buybacks aren’t about stopping violence at all but political imagery. Apparently we’re not the only ones:
Kleck said officials continue to hold buybacks because it allows them to look like they are reducing gun-related crime without angering people who support gun rights. “It’s a politically cost-free way of seeming to do something about the violence,” he said.
Yup it’s a method to show you’re doing something without actually doing anything. See hiring more police and having more patrols costs money. Giving out $50 to $100 per firearm costs relatively nothing in comparison. So what is the smart thing to do? Spend money on a solution or play security theatre? Well according to Manatee County in Florida the former.
