Forget that the city of Haverhill, MA never owned the guns in the first place, so the concept of conducting a "buyback" is a fraud right from the start. The entire business of encouraging citizens to turn in guns for "gift cards" (again a misnomer, since it's an exchange, not a present) endangers participants and can actually enable criminals.
"The idea is to cut down on the amount of potential guns that could be stolen during house breaks," the mayor is quoted as saying. If someone were breaking into their house, would the people he's appealing to not wish to have the means to protect themselves and their loved ones? Would Hizzoner?
It's true that those who have no desire to get the right training to be able to safely own a gun have the right to just get rid of the thing, whether the decision to forgo an effective tool for self-defense is a prudent one or not. But those are the very people who should not be handling a gun, let alone transporting it to a turn-in location – without adequate instruction on how to safely do both, they're endangering not only themselves but everyone around them, and breaking state law to boot.
It's also true that "no questions asked" is an incentive for people in possession of stolen guns to get rewarded for their crimes, and with considerably less risk than dealing with dangerous underworld purchasers. It's also a great way to get rid of a murder weapon, with guaranteed immunity. Another possibility – and I'm waiting for some savvy criminal to try this one out – is if they're arrested for "illegal" possession on the day a "buyback" is taking place to claim they were transporting it to the turn-in, that no training was provided on lawful transport, and they were promised no questions would be asked.
Meanwhile, the predatory criminals responsible for the violence will remain armed to the teeth, and ambitious politicians and in-their-pocket police chiefs, who are utterly powerless to do anything about that, will continue going after the law-abiding, and doing their utmost to render them powerless to fight back. And when another hapless constituent predictably becomes a victim, they'll play it up for all it's worth to "justify" their insatiable quest for yet more control and yet more power …
More "Buyback" Insanity:
• Toy 'buyback' shows utter incompetence of gungrabbers at reducing violence
• Jersey City gun 'buyback' illustrates character of characters behind it
• Gun 'buyback' minister charged with kidnapping, assault
David Codrea in his natural habitat -
About David Codrea: David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine - , and a blogger at The War on Guns Blogspot : Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.DavidCodrea.com.
Yours in Freedom, The Liberty Crew at JPFO
Protecting you by creating solutions to destroy "gun control"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~