OAKLAND’S FIRST-EVER GUN BUYBACK FIZZLES

[Meiko]

I guess $100.00 just isn't enough for a gangbanger to part with his back up gun. Get the rich folks to donate some more cash and give it another try.

Oakland is often criticized for its gun violence, then not recognized when it tries to do something about it.

On Saturday, the Oakland Police Department set up the city’s first ever gun buyback in a Caltrans lot in Fruitvale.

The net recovery? 12 guns.

OPD Lt. Blair Alexander, in charge of the buyback operation, told the Trib he was disappointed in the lack of support it received:

“The more people who come out, the more they send a message of a united front against violence.”

Community leaders including 100 Mothers, which focuses on gun violence, had organized the effort. Oakland residents had donated $10,000 to help with the gun buyback effort.

Those who surrendered guns received $100 and could give away up to two firearms.

To support the buyback, and to bring about a message of peace Saturday, two groups of protesters marched from opposite sides of Oakland to converge at Ignacio de la Fuenta Plaza in Fruitvale. Marchers told stories of loved ones lost to violence.

Oakland officials said last week that after four months of cooperation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 90 guns had been removed from the streets.

More at SFBay: http://sfbay.ca/2012/06/03/oaklands-first-ever-gun-buyback-fizzles/#ixzz1wmdA0KQd

[NYC_SKP]

1. Oakland... "gangbanger"????

Oakland has a lot of people in it, cafes, dry cleaners and elementary schools and colleges, and "Regular Americans".

Not everyone in Oakland is a gangbanger.

[gejohnston]

3. You missed the point

the regular Americans are not shooting up the place, so why bother with their guns? If you don't want the guns from the people who are, what's the point?

[Clames]

4. Missed it?

He never even got to it in the first place. He should try reading more than the first sentence of the OP, seems to work wonders for others.

[Meiko]

6. Correct

Didn't mean to imply that.

[xchrom]

2. Some gun nut is a racist. I don't know who that would be. Nt

[PavePusher]

5. "racist" how? Are all "gangbangers" of a single race?

Last I knew, they came in every shade, form and gender of Homo Sapiens, but maybe I'm just speciest like that.

[ileus]

8. There once was a poster that claimed all use of "Thugs" was racist.

[PavePusher]

33. I think she moved back North...

[Meiko]

7. So there won't be any future misunderstandings

I am not a gun nut, I am a gun owner. I am sure that you can see the difference. Secondly I am no racist and I have no idea where you would come up with such a thing. If you want to come to the Gun Forum and discuss some of the unique topics we discuss then feel free to do so, but if your intent is to come here and disrupt the group by calling people names and making false accusations then you are not going to enjoy yourself here, understand.

[ileus]

14. Silly ole Meiko.....gun owner = gun nut / hidden criminal

There's no such thing as a Gun owner and a Democrat/democrat/progressive/Progressive. From all I read you can't be both....sorry to have to break it to you.

[Meiko]

17. Perhaps

that used to be true, but times are changing.

[aikoaiko]

18. wtf?

You should explain yourself.

[Kolesar]

9. Owners who don't secure their guns should go to jail

...if their guns are taken by somebody else and used in a crime. Owners should not hide behind excuses like "I thought it would never happen".

That is what happened in Chardon.

We live in a country of lax regulations of firearms. Laws like I describe would limit the availability of weapons. Since we don't have adequate regulations, communities have to resort to gun "buy backs" to gather the weapons that are owned by careless people.
---
I expect the usual gunge-spects to jump on every clause in my post and extrapolate to create ridiculous statements that I did not make. It's just another day.

[slackmaster]

10. Yeah, and the same should apply to cars

If someone steals your car then crashes it into a school bus full of nuns, it's the car owner's fault.

[ellisonz]

29. Cars aren't guns.

They have very different characteristics.

[slackmaster]

30. Guns aren't cars

Why should the VICTIM of a crime be held responsible for CRIMINAL MISUSE of his or her stolen property, regardless of what kind of property we're talking about?

It makes no sense to me. None at all.

[ellisonz]

31. Guns =/ Cars

If your spouse has their license revoked because of DUI, and you let them drive your car, and then they kill someone while drunk in an accident, are you criminally negligent?

Many states have safe storage laws regarding children...and they work just fine.

[PavePusher]

34. Item improperly used to cause death=item improperly used to cause death.

Your verbal calculus sucks, stick to cartoons. You're marginally less sucky at that.

[slackmaster]

35. I'm fine with safe storage laws regarding keeping guns away from children

Kolesar's position is to punish people who are victims of adult crimes.

[GreenStormCloud]

11. None of the buy-backs work as you suppose.

They aren't about getting guns off the streets, they are about photo-ops for politicians. Most of the guns that get turned in are junk guns.Typically there will be a few, very few, quality guns turned in. The politician will pose with the guns that look most deadly as if all the guns turned in were like those, while the junk guns are not shown. The public then thinks he is doing something when actually nothing of significance was done.

[ileus]

13. I've read they use "prop" guns to make the photo op look better.

Don't know how true it is, but I wouldn't put it past them.


I wonder if they have cameras that take pictures of individuals foolish enough to show up?

Do they gather any personal information?

[Kolesar]

16. Owners who don't secure their guns should go to jail

Your contention that "the public then thinks he is doing something when actually nothing of significance was done
" makes a case for real, proactive regulation of guns.

[petronius]

23. How would you define "don't secure" in the construction of this law? Would the mere fact that

the gun was taken be sufficient proof that it wasn't secure? Or are you talking about some level of 'reasonable' effort to prevent theft?

Either way, I have a lot of difficulty with the idea of making the victim of a crime (theft of gun) automatically responsible for subsequent acts, beyond the sorts of child endangerment laws that would already apply to irresponsible gun storage and similar situations...

[ileus]

12. Unless neighbors and kids are gathering the firearms

none are being "bought" from careless people.


Careless people not only are careless but could care less about the location, condition, and use of a firearm.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. It's pretty bad when you know your argument is full of holes, but you click 'post' anyway.

[Clames]

26. You aren't terribly well educated on this issue.

Not have you done the minimal research needed to broach this topic here. Something for you to research concerning firearm security and charging those whose weapons are stolen with some sort of crime: Australia mandates how firearms may be stored in secured containers that meet applicable local standards. More than 1800 weapons were stolen from such containers in the year with latest tabulated data. How would you charge these owners? Keep in mind this is a country with some of the toughest restrictions on personal firearms ownership in the world.

[Meiko]

20. States with high crime see more guns stolen

Lock em' up people...

WASHINGTON — Guns are more likely to be stolen in states with high crime rates, large numbers of gun owners and where laws are lacking on safe storage of firearms, according to a study released Wednesday.
The report by the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation says nearly 1.7 million firearms were reported to police as stolen from January 1993 through August 2002. The number of guns stolen per year has declined, from 221,322 reported in 1993 to 138,035 in 2001, the report says.

The study says the decline in gun thefts coincides with a simultaneous drop in crime in the USA and an increase in use of gun locks and storage devices.

The group, which advocates stronger gun-storage laws, relied on numbers collected by the FBI. The numbers show that nearly 688,000 stolen firearms were recovered during the 10-year period, leaving more than 1 million missing and most likely fueling the black market for criminals.

Nearly 10% of state prison inmates incarcerated on gun crimes say the weapons they used were stolen.

"A stolen gun is like gold to a criminal because it can be quickly resold without fear of it being traced," says Jim Kessler, the foundation's policy and research director.

Six states — Alaska, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, New Mexico and Georgia — had firearm theft rates at least twice the national average, which is 16.8 stolen guns per 1,000 households, the report says.

"For the most part," the report says, "these states share three common traits: a large percentage of gun owners, relatively high crime rates and no laws requiring safe storage of firearms in the home."

California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina had the highest number of gun thefts over the past 10 years. But those states drop out of the top five when population is taken into account.

***MORE AT LINK***

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-12-17-guns-usat_x.htm

[Tejas]

24. Ah, the good old AGSF, Republican donors that hate guns.

AGSF = McKelvey = John McCain


The dead billionaire Andrew McKelvey, CEO of Monster.com and board member of HCI (Handgun Control Inc), founded the AGSF and filled John McCain's coffers.

[Tejas]

21. "2 firearm limit" - well that's just plain STUPID!

"We want SOME guns off the street".

[G26]

22. This wasn't Oakland's 1st buyback - the last one was (sort of) successful

Oakland offered $250 per gun, but ended up going $170,000 over budget - which i suppose means they got 680 more guns than they expected. The story is here: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2128

Oakland’s Gun Buyback Misfires
February 23, 2008
Alexander Tabarrok
Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune

On Feb. 9, Oakland police, led by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, offered to buy handguns and assault weapons for $250 each, “no questions asked, no ID required.” The “One Less Gun” buyback program attracted so many eager sellers that the money quickly ran out. But instead of closing up shop, the police handed out IOUs good for a future buyback. The Oakland police are now stuck with a bill for $170,000.

The buyback has been criticized as a poorly organized fiasco, but even the critics say it was “the right idea” and “a step in the right direction.”

[Meiko]

25. I stand corrected

My post is in error but I had no way of knowing....never trust the media I guess.

[G26]

27. Not blaming you ... just surprised that anyone would thing that a place like Oakland (where i live)

hadn't tried this before. Gun buybacks are pretty common here in the SF Bay Area.

[Atypical Liberal]

28. Until and unless you pay fair market value, such things will never work.

The average price of a new handgun is over $400.

Even a generic Ruger 10/22 rifle is going to cost you $200.

And firearms hold their value very well. The Ruger P90 I bought back in 1998 for around $375 is still worth over $250.

[G26]

32. Buybacks are designed to get illegal guns ...

so I'm not sure what "fair market value" would be. For a law-abiding citizen, a stolen gun or a gun with serial number removed has little value, but do criminals value guns the same way? People often say that you can get guns cheap "on the street" (wherever that is), but if you can't buy a gun legally (either because you are a felon or because you don't want the gun linked to you), it seems like you would expect to pay a higher price for an illegal gun. Illegal drugs, for instance, aren't cheaper than prescription versions - they cost more because they aren't legal.