Posted on 08/05/2010 8:56:10 PM PDT by Born Conservative
The bullet holes on the front of Raseesha Brightman's Point Breeze house are a painful reminder of the day her friend was killed by two men with assault rifles.
Early that morning of June 3, two men riddled her home on 21st Street near Titan with bullets as she and five others, including victim Joseph Addison, 22, sat on the stoop.
"The gun was thundering," said Brightman, 23. "It's never going to be out of my mind."
Three days later, Richard Pagliarella opened the second location of his Ricci Bros. Hoagies shop on the same corner where Addison was shot multiple times.
Feeling compelled to do something, Pagliarella offered two hoagies, a soda and chips for each firearm brought to the store last week.
"I was hoping we would get one [gun], save one life and have one less gun on the street," Pagliarella said.
But they received none.
Gun-buyback programs are used nationwide to reduce the number of illegal guns with police, community organizations and businesses offering incentives in exchange for guns, no questions asked.
But some - as Pagliarella found out - work better than others.
Melchezedek Wells, who was once involved in a life of crime himself, said he would have never turned in his gun for a hoagie or groceries.
Instead, the president of One Day at a Time Recovery Inc. said the programs should offer life-changing incentives - like a job.
"Their gun is a way of living," Wells said. "We need to do something to cater to the needs of these guys."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Guns for jobs... great.
You’d think guns were walking around killing people according to this moron
Philly ping
1. It’s a stupid idea to offer a couple sandwiches for a gun.
2. If anything will entice people to bring in a gun it is cash.
3. People who do bring in guns bring in non-working guns - which means a gun that could shoot someone is not off the street, nobody is saved or safer, and you’ve paid money for symbolic non-working guns.
4. If they bring in a bunch of non-working guns they will walk away with enough money to buy a working firearm, and now you’ve made them and your neighborhood more dangerous.
ping
Trade your $1000 semi-auto for a......$5 combo meal. I really can’t imagine why they didn’t get any takers. Hmm.....
Can I get mine wi’ provolone?
What the hell is a hoagie?
....you want me to trade a 200 dollar firearm for a 6 dollar sandwich?
Give me a break.
Their gun is a way of living,” Wells said. “We need to do something to cater to the needs of these guys.”.............................. Yeah,the gun is a way of living when used to defend one’s self. Archie Bunker had it right.
A sub, a grinder..
BTW a hoagie is toasted and is normally meat, cheese and marinara sauce.
I'm guessing "mission accomplished" - some law abiding citizen that DIDN'T turn in a firearm will probably use it to fend off a criminal invader some day.
Random thoughts to random excerpts:
“Who really is it that’s turning in the gun? If it is a way of life to someone a few dollars is not going to change that,” said Dan Gross, CEO of PAX, a national nonprofit gun-violence-prevention organization in New York.”
-A gun-grabber with common sense?
“Gross said the programs are superficial, adding that more of an effort needs to be made to change social norms such as the stop-snitching culture.”
-There’s a conservative lurking inside this guy somewhere, I can feel it.
“Police officials admit that the majority of guns are not turned in by criminals but by family members and friends who want to get the guns out of the house.”
-So, basically, it’s not done a thing to stop gun-toting criminals?
“The bad guys don’t give me their guns,” Jones said. This program “reduces the pool of guns that get stolen and wind up in the hands of bad guys.”
-Agh! The overwhelming stupidity of that statement is making my cranial plates thicken! Agh! I’m devolving!
I don't know who is more stupid, gun criminals or gun grabbers.
Can I get a sandwich if I bring in a pointed stick?
Lol! It’s a long italian bread roll with meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickles, red and green peppers, onions and olive oil.
A po’ boy.
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