Preparing for Gun Turn In Phoenix 4 May, 2013

The drive to Phoenix from Yuma is about three hours, for what will be the first gun turn in event in 20 years. Many people come to the valley of the sun to retire, so the potential for widows who are not familiar with their husbands "old army rifle" or "Grandpa's shotgun" are pretty good.

I and a good friend looked at the three sites last night. A couple were on the South side in modest neighborhoods. I have seen much, much worse. A lady of the evening in a red sequined dress and a nice figure sauntered along the sidewalk a couple of blocks from one site.

The third site, in North Phoenix, is in a more prosperous area, with better parking. We will start there.

I expect to have more details and pictures by tomorrow. If I can work it in, I will have an update tonight.

You might be a tease and bring along a sort of valuable gun, with a line like “I’m not sure I should trade this in (for whatever, like a $50 gift card for Target stores). What do you think it would be worth if I sold it?”

You might even bring along a confederate to offer you far more than the gun is worth, in front of the fools turning in their guns. It would be the “antiques road show effect”, stimulating their greed.

Importantly, part of the deal is that your confederate would do a semi-real appraisal, pointing out nebulous and subjective things on the gun “which make it much more valuable to collectors”.

For example, a $200 Japanese pistol:

“This is a WWII Nambu Model 14, (ripped off unabashedly from Wikipedia) The Nambu pistol series is a recoil operated, locked breech, semi-automatic pistol. The pistols are slender barreled with a single piece frame. The barrel is forged integrally with the receiver. The breech-lock was achieved by a propping system similar to the breech lock system used in the Glisenti Model 1910. As the barrel moved forward, the block would be lifted as it rode across the frame forcing the lug upward to lock into the bolt. The Nambu series is well balanced despite the main spring chamber protruding from the left side.”

Then throw in some utter b.s.

“I can tell from its serial number that this was from a limited edition pistol produced exclusively for the Japanese 7th Infantry Division (again from Wikipedia), which began the war trained for fighting in Arctic conditions, but later fought in Manchuria, on Midway Island, and later Guadalcanal. Only 140 of their men survived the war, which makes this a very valuable pistol indeed. It’s price at auction could be anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000.”

“Well then, I certainly wouldn’t want to give it away for some cheap store gift card!”

Our Legislature passed a bill last week that mandate all weapons recieved at these “Buy Backs” must then be sold to FFL dealers in the state. Cities can no longer destroy these weapons. Gov Brewer signed it into law on Thursday.

Safe travels to Phoenix. Hopefully the wind will stay down today. Yesterday was terrible. We had visibility of 1000 ft out on the Barry Goldwater range yesterday. The Copper and Cabeza Prieta Mountains were damn near invisible with all the sand in the air.

At Gun Watch, a correction has been posted to the original article. It appears that the 20 year figure is incorrect. Exactly how long it had been since the last turn in event is uncertain:

"Correction: My memory was faulty on how long ago the last turn-in event occurred in Phoenix. Police officers at the scene differed. Some said 7-8 years ago, some said three. Clearly the 20 year figure was not correct."

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