The City of Dallas conducted a gun buyback and 147 hardened criminals turned in their guns. Hardened criminals like Gary Reed who exchanged his guns because he was tired of killing people “of his Christian faith.” His church had been asking him to do more so he turned his guns in. Though it looks to me like he really did it to get $150 worth of grocery cards that he could give away to strangers. Which is admirable. If he doesn’t need the guns, might as well get the taxpayers of Dallas to give him $150 he can donate.
Of course, the real reason for things this stupid is for self-serving politicians to make it seem like they are doing something.
Although many of the guns turned in were generations-old rifles and shotguns, a few of the guns more typically used in crimes — handguns, specifically — were among those collected.
“This shows that people will be behind a positive activity,” said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who spearheaded the event at Reunion Arena. “Some of those guns are ones our officers are up against.”
Certainly, this was a positive activity but not the one Mr. Caraway thinks it was. Giving away money in exchange for items people don’t need is positive. Thinking a gun buyback is going to target the types of guns in the hands of people who use them for crime is dumb. None of the guns “are ones our officers are up against.” Images of guns marching down the street to attack officers notwithstanding, these may have been guns of a certain category that get used in crimes but they certainly weren’t turned in by people looking to commit crimes.
Of course, Caraway knows that and throws up the usual tripe about guns getting stolen and/or the terror of kids being around guns:
Caraway said that although the guns collected might not have been used in crimes, that wasn’t the point of the buyback. Some of the weapons could have been stolen later and used in crimes, he said. Others might have laid around homes, where children could have played with them.
“Some of these guns are very dangerous,” Caraway said. “It takes only one gun, one shot to destroy a family.”
All guns are dangerous when handled by idiots. So are knives and rat poison and cars. But we’d never do a car buyback.
All this in a time when cities are in financial trouble. The city of Dallas spent $7350 worth of taxpayer money on a misguided attempt to get some politicians name in the paper. Glad it wasn’t any of my money.
March 2, 2009 at 12:26 pm
This pointless exercise boils me everytime I see someone doing it. Now here is a thought if people insist on doing this… find willing collectors, aprove them to buy “buy backs” and auction these pieces to them. These will be smelted and I guarantee the majority of them are relics, some with potentially historical significance. I remember seeing footage from an Australian smelting. I saw two J Purdy and Sons Shotguns go in that pot. They were easily worth half a million combined… Hmmm… that is a lot of money… Ok I’m done with my
commentrant extension 🙂March 2, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Yup, people would never sell their 1968 Camaro SS for $50 in grocery cards because they’d think it might be worth something and yet no one ever thinks that maybe their guns are worth more than $50. Idiots all around as far as I can tell which only makes it worse.
March 2, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I thought about going down there with some cash to look over what was coming in, in case there was something of value. Figure $50 to $100 cash would be appreciated far more than those grocery cards.
November 11, 2015 at 8:31 pm
I haven’t given enough money to the goornbmiet to get serious BAG money back yet, but I suggest going a little sideways this year. Instead of getting another used .22 get a good AIR rifle (listens to the howls of derision). These aren’t Red Ryders I’m talking about. I have used a bone-stock Benjamin Discovery to plink empty 20 gauge hulls at 60 yards, hitting nearly all of them on the first shot.If you get a precharged pneumatic (PCP) airgun like the Discovery you can hunt pests and nuisance birds at ranges formerly reserved to a .22 with CB Longs. If the trigger pull is bad, you can usually fix that yourself with these guns too.