Sam Adams [above left], the scandal-plagued mayor of Portland, Oregon, is touting the ‘success’ of his recent anti-gun efforts. TTAG has reported on his antics previously. Last weekend’s gun turn-in orchestrated by Ceasefire Oregon, prevented immeasurable carnage by removing 243 rusted .22 rifles and break-open shotguns from the attics and garages of Fat Old White Guys who gladly snatched the $50 Fred Meyers gift certificates being handed out. Fred Meyers, for those of you in drier climes, is a regional grocery/department-store chain which sells everything you can think of except guns or ammunition. Bummer.
Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with safely disposing of worthless non-functional firepower while depleting the coffers of misguided anti-gunners at the same time. Hell, I’ve done it myself and spent the proceeds on more gun gear. (Thanks, California!)
But Mayor Sam “I didn’t have any improper relationship with that underage intern…okay I lied, but you already voted for me” Adams’ isn’t stopping there.
His latest media blitz trumpets the success of his “Illegal Gun Task Force.” Comprised of one Portland Police Bureau Sergeant and four officers, this unit was created six months ago with the goal of “getting illegal guns off the streets” or some such bureaucratese BS. In the six months of its existence, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the task force succeeded in confiscating exactly sixty-two guns. Only one-fourth were recovered stolen guns.
We know that the gun buy-back cost the city at least twelve grand (243 guns at fifty bucks each.) Now let’s crunch the numbers on the Illegal Gun Task Force: 62 guns divided by five cops, divided by 25 weeks equals…wait for it….zero point four-nine-six guns per cop per week. Half a gun per week, for each cop on the team. Breathtaking.
And how much have the citizens of Stumptown paid for this dramatic increase in public safety? Let’s crunch more numbers: Portland police earn an average of $70,000 a year after four years on the job (before overtime) and we can easily add another $30,000 a year to that for the cost of administration and benefits. And we don’t even know how many non-uniformed staff and office personnel are assigned to the Task Force.
Being cautious, that makes a cool quarter-mil (five cops, no secretaries, half a year) for these six months of task force ‘successes’, at a cost of four thousand and thirty-two dollars per gun.
It’s hard to cheer for the clowns at Ceasefire Oregon, but at least they only blew fifty bucks for each single-shot Savage .410 they recycled.