"As I have said before, I don't have much against "buybacks" (the voluntary kind, not the mandatory kind)."
For the first time in Central Texas, a law enforcement agency will take a gun off your hands, ask no questions and give you money for groceries.
Identification won't be required to turn in a weapon through Guns 4 Groceries, a program sponsored by the Austin Police Department and the Greater Austin Crime Commission that will allow police to buy guns in exchange for grocery store gift cards.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the main goals of the program are to reduce gun violence in Austin and help families that do not know what to do with an old gun in the home.
"This is not about trying to diminish someone's Second Amendment right, and it's not about us telling people they shouldn't own a gun," Acevedo said. "This program is for people who are too old to operate a gun or for people who no longer wish to have a gun in their home."
Unlike FishyJay, it seems to me most of the pro-gun advocates hate these programs. I've tried to ascertain why. Maybe this is a hint.
Chuck Young, executive director of Texans for Accountable Government, a nonpartisan political action committee, said many of the guns that police are wanting to buy could be sold at gun shows for four times the price.
"I think most of the ones they could be buying are broken, and it is really just a photo-opportunity for police," Young said. "What we are concerned about is how this creeps into a gun-control mentality."
What's your opinion? Is this kind of thing a big show for the police with no real benefit involved? Why would the police in Austin Texas go in for it then? They're still Texans after all.
Is the real problem with these programs that they lend credibility to the gun control idea about gun availability? The role that gun availability plays in violence and death is so obvious us that we find it hard to believe the gun advocates are serious when they deny it.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
More on "buybacks":
ReplyDeleteThey seem somewaht harmless to me, although they also seem ineffective.
My theory is that there may be one benefit. We know that there exists many people who think that "doing something about guns" will help, and "buybacks" allow them to think that they are doing something --while not actually infinging upon the Constitutional rights of good people who want to own guns.
I'm 100% for it so long as Police and public funds aren't used.
ReplyDeleteHave you donated to a gun buy-back program recently, Mike?
How about you, Jade?
How exactly does the government "buyback" privately owned property?
ReplyDeleteMike W., Your question is infantile. Everybody in the discussion is talking about the pros and cons of these programs and you want to debate the choice of words commonly used to describe them.
ReplyDelete"Do they speak English in What?"
You know where that comes from?
I'm in agreement with Weer'd. I don't have a problem with private donations funding buybacks. I just think that there are better uses for public funds that will have a measurable impact on crime. More police presence on the street for instance, or community cleanup projects.
ReplyDelete