Trade a gun for a rose in SC on Valentine's Day

Yahoo News ^ | 2/14/09

[Former Fetus]

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Police in South Carolina gave away roses on Valentine's Day. All you had to do to get one for your sweetie was turn in a gun.

Hoping to get the weapons off the streets with the "Guns for Roses" program, authorities in two central South Carolina cities set up a program where anyone who turned in a gun received a free rose and a Best Buy gift card.

[Former Fetus]

75 guns collected in an hour? I knew the people in Columbia were kind of crazy, but this is insane! And saying they were relieved to get rid of the weapons???

Let me go and check the closet, I'm starting to look suspiciously at the rose I got this morning. LOL

[ErnBatavia]

Pikers....neighboring Cathedral City did a $100 Target gift card thingie like that a couple of months ago; no questions asked in this rather heavily hispanic demographic.

The TV coverage showed a bunch of older white guys smirking as they turned in cobwebbed and rusty old pieces.

[BipolarBob]

Hell, I would have given them TWO roses for each gun and doubled the ante.

[Armedanddangerous]

be interesting to find out how many of those turned in guns were stolen from their original owners...and how many of those guns were actually able to be fired.

[Loyal Buckeye]

I wonder how something like that would work? Maybe not a rose, but something like $10 or $20 bucks.

[Armedanddangerous]

I wish they would do it around here. Ive got three or four broken ravens and jennings pistols I might part with..take the money and buy a new computer.

[jafojeffsurf]

I’ll give you a rose for a few good guns, heck I’ll trade for ammo.

[BipolarBob]

I’ll bet the police may not take kindly to any competition to their offer.

[JoeDetweiler]

A while back Oakland offered fifty bucks cash.......a bunch of Nevada dealers loaded up all their garbage and drove it down. The city was overwhelmed and reneged on the deal.

[Paleo Conservative]

[DieHard the Hunter]

> I’ll bet the police may not take kindly to any competition to their offer.

LOL! That would be worth the price of admission, ay!

Or worse yet, have some philanthropist giving away one gun in exchange for a rose... the cops would probably spew!

[Loyal Buckeye]

Competition is still good, isn’t it. Maybe I could throw in a picture of Obama and that would make everything o.k.

[Richard Kimball]

Nobody who's going to use a gun for crime is going to turn it in for a rose. What they'll get is worthless crap, with the occasional old lady who has her dad or husband's guns. They'll do something like trade a Winchester 30.30 saddle gun for a rose.

Guns used in crimes off the streets? 0

[kingu]

$100 gift card and a rose.. That’s what that old bag of junkers is for, times like this. Alas, bit far to go collect, keep waiting on the next one in my area. Could have gotten myself a nice big screen tv.

[Repeal 16-17]

Congratulation South Carolina! You are in the lead for this year's award for Stupidest Gun Control Idea. [/sarc]

Anyone who traded in a functioning firearm for a rose is cheap and stupid.

[txnativegop]

Fort Worth Tx had a gun buy back program years ago, I took a Raven Arms MP25 pistol w/o firing pin to them and got $50, more than the gun was worth.

[Hazwaste]

In a few months, as society deteriorates in the urban areas, those that traded in their guns at these ridiculous “buy backs” (as if the cops own all the guns) are going to kick themselves.

[Illinois is a Red State]

As soon as I read the headline, I knew right away what it’d be called. Not only is the program disgusting, but they couldn’t even attempt to give it a non-terrible name.

[gimme1ibertee]

I just flashed back to the 60s,when protesters were sticking daisies in the gun barrels of the National Guard.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Are you in favor of buybacks?