Sangamon
County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois
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Sangamon
County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights Springfield, Illinois |
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 Phony photo-op by Jim Butler, President, SCRA December 2007 GunNews While the recent gun buyback feel-good program made a good photo-op for Springfield officials, it will do little to reduce crime. The $52,600 spent for the 526 firearms turned in could have been better spent on combating the growing drug problem in Springfield and Sangamon County. Most of the violence here is caused by gangs fighting over territorial control of the lucrative illegal drug trade. There are several problems with gun buyback programs including disarming future crime victims thereby creating new social costs. It gives the criminal an easy way to dispose of evidence. Cheap guns can be bought and sold back to the government for a profit. It will cause more guns to be stolen and sold to buyback programs, creating more crime. Many of these guns are turned in by those least likely to commit crimes, older people and women. These gun buyback programs seldom return stolen guns to their rightful owners. Although the police in the Springfield buyback to their credit have made a good faith effort to return stolen guns to their rightful owners. In reality, more than 50% of the firearms bought via a gun buyback program were over 15 years old, whereas almost half of firearms seized from juveniles are less than three years old. In some cases drug dealers have stationed themselves at the guns-for-cash locations and with wads of cash have stopped people as they approached the location and offered to buy the better guns for more money than was being offered by the program. While the Springfield Police Department handled the buyback program in a reasonably safe manner, many of these events have been held in crowded buildings with people unfamiliar with guns handling them. Some of these might or may not be unloaded. Who then is responsible for an accident that may cause severe injury or even death? Is it the church, business owner or the government who owns or controls the building where it occurred? Are they adequately insured in case of an accident of this magnitude? Gun buyback programs using gift cards, may make their proponents "feel better" and garner headlines, but they will have a negligible impact on crime as proven time and time again. As I See it index Return to SCRA Home Page |