Posted on 04/28/2018 6:35:49 PM PDT by Simon Green
(Shown above are firearms collected at a previous Osceola County Sheriff’s Office gun buyback event.)
Local leaders and law enforcement officials are teaming up Friday for a gun buyback program with a special focus on semi-automatic rifles.
Gift Cards for Guns is the latest effort by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and County Commissioner Viviana Janer to get pistols, shotguns and rifles off the street by offering residents a $50 gift card for gas or Walmart when they turn in those weapons.
“I am proud to do my part in making our community safer, by providing a safe, no-questions-asked way for residents to dispose of their unwanted firearms,” Janer said.
Both the Sheriff’s Office and the Kissimmee Police Department have hosted similar events in the past, but this year offers a new incentive.
Individuals who turn in an AR-15 or AR-10 semiautomatic rifles will receive two gift cards instead of one.
Discussions of banning the AR-15 and other assault style weapons gained momentum earlier this year when a shooter used the gun to murder 17 people in Parkland, Fla.
The AR-15 was also the primary weapon used at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, a movie theater in Colorado, Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, a church in Texas and the music festival shooting in Las Vegas.
Most recently, Travis Reinking, 29, used an AR-15 style weapon on April 22 to open fire on a Waffle House in Nashville, killing four people.
Guns turned in during the buyback program will be destroyed. Officers will try to give stolen guns back to their rightful owners.
Similar events are held all across Central Florida each year in conjunction with Crimeline, an anonymous crime tip hotline. Friday’s event is a little different because although it mirrors the Crimeline gun buyback events, it is being independently organized by the County Commission using special grant funds.
The anonymous nature of the event means that any resident can drop off any firearm, no questions asked. Deputies will not check identifications of those who participate in the buyback program.
The Walmart and gas gift cards are funded by the Commissioner’s Betterment Grant money.
Those who wish to turn in firearms should place the weapons in a plastic bag, unloaded and safely secured in the trunk of the vehicle. As drivers enter the drop off location, they are asked to remain in their vehicles until deputies remove the guns from the trunk.
This year’s event will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at La Placita Latina Meat and Produce on 519 E. Vine St. in Kissimmee.
How do you “buyback” something that wasn’t yours to begin with?
As if the criminals are going to turn in any firearms. Fools.
I don’t think any serious gun owners are interested in a “buyback” program, except maybe for some old, worn out ones. They know it’s just a version of “gun control”...in it’s early stages.
Maybe some widow lady, or some child survivors of a deceased gun owner might try to cash in, but that’s about all.
Do they check the numbers to see how many were stolen?
Stand about a block away with a sign that says: We buy guns!
It appears FL is heading to the toilet, one damn Yankee at a time. It wasn’t that long ago that FL taxpayers would have squashed this crap and kept politicians from spending tax money like this. Now, “buybacks” and stupid “gun control” legislation are the order of the day in the state.
Looking at the photo of the previous “buy back” event, I see several revolvers that appear to be made in the 1870s to 1890s (likely using .38 rim fire cartridges, which haven’t been manufactured in decades) and what seems to be a replica single shot percussion pistol, circa 1830s. Great they got those dangerous weapons off the street. sarc>
Looks like a couple of Iver Johnson Owlheads, a 22 or 32 and a 38 S&W. Wouldn’t mind having those revolvers ...
Lookin’ at the pic, every damn weapon is a POS. A cap and ball, muzzle loaded pistol??? Probably a replica...but still worth more than $50. Best one of the bunch. I’d make an offer of $75.
I have seen these guns before. There will be a fair number of perfectly good guns headed for destruction but most as junk, torn up, black powder, air guns, fake guns etc.
There almost always seem to also attract something like an artillery Luger some old widow’s husband brought back from Germany. There has been some publicity about these and at least some depts are turning them back for sale.
The whole thing is idiotic in the extreme.
Is that a Webley 45???
LOL, Maybe they should go down to the hood with their Buy Back Money and knock on the doors offering to buy the guns.
My count: 13 Wheel & 12 Semi. Long guns: Whatever.
Boy! Gang bangers are totally disarmed!
Stay safe!
Smart police usually get anything worth having.
Just spotted that, looks like it, If so quite a collectors item worth much more that $50.
And yes, as someone else pointed out, they are acting like these were their guns to start with which they foolishly let the peasants have.
Realizing their error they will now take them back. They will even give you a token price. Of course if you don’t voluntarily do so, the next time they will just take them.
There is a Marlin 66 or Glenfield generic of same near the top. Stock looks okay.
I suspect you are right. I knew the Son of a police chief in Polk County, FL. He had a large collection of guns.
Not a hard guess as to how he got them.
Yup, The 3rd from the top maybe a Rem 870 sans barrel.
I have an Iver Johnson Owlhead .38. It was made in 1894 so it is a black powder cartridge and .38 S&W to boot, a cartridge not to be found on store shelves anywhere today.
They may have “targeted” semiautomatics, but did not get much of anything. Mostly junk from the looks of it.
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