Pushback at Cleveland Gun "buy back"

Gun Watch ^ | 8 September, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

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

[marktwain]

I have heard that impromptu auctions took place for some of the more valuable guns.

[Morpheus2009]

I don’t know I have any to turn in. From what I have heard the buy back prices have been pathetic, in relation to what you bought them for. A pawn shop would take them for more. Again, there’s also the fact that some nut out there has hidden ones that he/she won’t sell anyways.

[SampleMan]

Anyone wanting to sell a weapon can do so legally at any pawn shop or gun show.

[T-Bird45]

I didn’t read every post in the forum. Do you know the price they paid for the rolling billboard?

[marktwain]

No. But I knew it was going to happen. I agreed not to publish until after the event.

[T-Bone Texan]

Nowadays the police foresee patriots buying guns before they even get to the police table.

To fight this, they are staging the "buy backs" in places where it is difficult for the patriots to line the roads or otherwise contact the gun owner before the gun owner gets to the police table. This latest dirty tactic happened in Austin TX.

There are several videos on Youtube of police threatening and intimidating folks trying to legally buy guns at these events. The patriots almost always know the law better than the police do and do not back down.

[DPMD]

“there is no reason to destroy the valuable firearms collected...”

I suspect many of the valuable firearms aren’t destroyed, but rather find their way to the collections of politicians and police chiefs.

[smokingfrog]

Is there a requirement for a pawn shop or reputable gun dealer to run the serial number to see if the gun has been reported as stolen? I don’t think they do that at these gun turn-ins.

[SampleMan]

Yes, FFLs do submit the serial numbers. And you are correct that most of these buy backs, don’t. That means that if your gun was stolen and the police buy it, you won’t be getting it back.