Article on gun buybacks

[ericire12]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-liguns256012055jan25,0,6150073.story

Do gun buybacks work?
Officials say taking hundreds of firearms increases safety, but analysts assert it does little to reduce crime

BY ANN GIVENS | ann.givens@newsday.com
    January 25, 2009

By dawn, the line of people turning in guns at the Uniondale church was snaking out the door.

It was Nassau's first gun buyback in 20 years, and by the end of that December day, police had taken in 424 handguns and shotguns at four churches - such an unexpectedly large number that they burned through the $50,000 officials had allocated and had to issue IOUs.

A gun buyback in Suffolk the same weekend also far surpassed expectations, and in both counties law enforcement officials proclaimed overwhelming success.

But nationwide, a debate has long raged about whether such events really take guns out of the hands of criminals.

Most law enforcement officials say they do - that an offer of $200 per gun - the deal in both Nassau and Suffolk - prompts would-be criminals to turn in guns that they might have used to hurt people.

Even guns turned in by law-abiding citizens increase safety, because they could go off accidentally, be used in suicides or stolen by criminals, said Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who helped coordinate Nassau's buyback.

Still, some analysts say the events are more about making people feel good than stopping crimes.

"It's a nice symbolic effort but it's unlikely that it will really affect gun crimes," said Brian Patrick, a professor at the University of Toledo who has studied gun culture and gun-control issues.

Garen Wintemute, who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California at Davis, conducted one of several studies around 2000 that showed buybacks don't significantly reduce crime. He found that most buybacks remove only an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the guns in a community, and that those turned in aren't the ones likely to be used in crimes.

However, Wintemute said that police have started doing smarter gun buybacks in the last decade, and that researchers haven't gone back to see if they are more effective now.

Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey conceded there were big problems with Nassau's gun buybacks when the county last tried them in the 1980s. He said police inadvertently wound up buying back lots of legal guns, and paying good money for junk stock from gun dealers. They even wound up buying back service guns from retired police and correction officers, he said.

Some experts also said allowing criminals to sell worthless guns for a good price might have put money in their pockets for more or better weapons.

So, this time, police tightened the rules: No broken guns, no guns from dealers and if they got a legally registered gun, police found the owner of record and questioned him or her about it.

In Suffolk, police limited their buyback to illegal handguns, those they say are most often used in crimes.

"Reducing handguns increases safety," said Lt. Bob Donohue, commanding officer of Suffolk police's Community Outreach Bureau.

Both counties said their programs worked. Nassau law enforcement officials said they received sawed-off shotguns and Tec-9 semi-automatic handguns - guns often associated with crimes. Many of the guns they received are worth much more than what law enforcement officials paid for them, said William Flannigan, the commanding officer of asset forfeiture and intelligence for the Nassau Police Department.

Other guns might have been worth less than $200, but Flannigan said that's not the point.

"We paid someone $200 for something that could have cost them their life," he said.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum, said if people look for gun buybacks to to reduce crime, they may be disappointed. But if they look at them as a way to get the community involved in a larger effort to fight gun violence, they are worthwhile.

"They're not a panacea to the violent crime issue but they can be an opportunity for a community to work with the police in reducing gun violence," he said.

[TAB]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... guns( or lack there of) have no effect on crime.

[alfsauve]

Besides the fact that "buyback" is a misnomer,  what gives a county government the authority to selectively ignore federal laws?

Oh I know, it's for the better good.   End justifies the means.   WE can "waive" any law we want if WE think it's a good thing.

[TAB]

Besides the fact that "buyback" is a misnomer,  what gives a county government the authority to selectively ignore federal laws?

Oh I know, it's for the better good.   End justifies the means.   WE can "waive" any law we want if WE think it's a good thing.

Just so you know, the federal goverment does not have to fallow federal laws.  Just as states do not have to fallow state laws.

[philw]

I will Post more later ( I have some info on my other Puter)


however  in short   11 years our gubberment  under Howard spent over  500Mil  on the buy back of Semi Auto Rifles, Pump and Semi Auto Shotguns    and it did SFA  on crime

[Sponsor]

[sledgemeister]

I will Post more later ( I have some info on my other Puter)


however  in short   11 years our gubberment  under Howard spent over  500Mil  on the buy back of Semi Auto Rifles, Pump and Semi Auto Shotguns    and it did SFA  on crime

Like he said ^.
Following the success of the 96 buyback they also did one for handguns, another waste of $$ which done zip, nada nothing to impact upon their use in crimes or by criminals.
Heres something to ponder about the Powers That Be, who make such stoopid decisions, it is prohibited under a normal licence to own a pump action shot gun, but not a lever action shot gun nor a pump or lever action rifle...um WTF? It is illegal now to possess and use a calibre in excess of .38 for a pistol or a revolver with out a police commisioners excemption, you may not have a semi auto pistol with a barrel length less than 120mm nor a revolver with a barrel less than 100mm, I kid you not, they think this makes society safer, well umm BS.
You are not allowed to have a semi auto pistol with a mag over cap over 10rnds, obviously they havent worked out the average shooter can change a mag / reload in about a sec, dunno how this law has saved any ones life any where 
In 2003 I had to surrender two pistols a baby browning .25 cal vest pocket (6rnd) and a browning .32 cal (7rnd) because of barrel length, Now suffice too say these pistols were never the most accurate nor the most powerful, I got my dollars and immediately went and brought a 8 shot .357 mag with a 8 3/4" barrel, now tell me what firearm has the ability to be more lethal? Again WTF are this bureacrats on?
All this is done for is to appease those who do not want to face the cold hard facts of life and beleive in the fuzzy wuzzy world portrayed by the UN. Well friends it aint gunna happen! I watched the old sylvester stallone movie the other day called Demolition Man, not sure if it is just me but it seems a little too close to the truth.
Oh and to all the aussies out there Happy Australia Day!