“A recent Facebook post on the agency website called on residents who ‘find themselves in the awkward situation of getting rid of handguns, rifles and other firearms’ to drop them off at the Crestview Police Department in the care of Deputy Police Chief Rick Brown,” nwfdailynews.com reports. Drop them off for . . .
“Guns in any condition can be brought in,” read the post, authored by Police Department spokesman Brian Hughes. “Those weapons that are still serviceable will be given to active duty or retired law enforcement officers or military members as personal weapons for recreational or service use. Irreparably damaged or unusable guns will be turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for destruction and disposal.”
Recreational use? Well that’s a bit awkward. So awkward that the aforementioned spokesman nearly tripped over himself backpedalling.
“The error in the Facebook post made it sound like police officers would receive turned-in firearms for their personal use. Actually, only those firearms permissible for officers’ professional use under Police Department guidelines and regulations would be accepted for use in the department,” Hughes said.
Sure, that’s what the Crestview PD meant. But at least Officer Hughes admitted what New Jersey legislators fail/choose not to understand: gun “buybacks” and surrenders are an expensive waste of taxpayers’ money that do nothing to increase public safety.
Hughes said because the process of vetting firearms turned in as part of the collection effort would have been cumbersome, the Police Department had decided to do away with the program rather than taking resources away from more pressing public safety issues.
“It was a good idea, but our Facebook post was premature,” Hughes said in an email. “We jumped the gun.”
The shark Brian. The Facebook post jumped the shark.
Was very clear…said” personal weapons for recreational or service use”…
I think the appropriate characterization is “Freudian slip”.
People, please take unwanted guns to your local gun store. These items can be worth anywhere from $100 up into the thousands of dollars. The only time you aren’t being horribly ripped off at gun “buybacks” is on homemade or non-repairable junk guns.
I get righteously pissed every time I think of some granny on social security turning in her dead husbands Colt Python or Rockola M1 Carbine for a hundred dollar gift card to Walmart. These agencies are STEALING from people who don’t know better.
It’s not stealing. It’s called the people turning them in are “suckers”.
It’s closer to fraud.
“a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.”
The accomplishment part would be claiming the gift card is somehow a just recompense.
The qualities part would be claiming it’s for safety.
Give us X, we give you Z. If that happens, it’s not deception or fraud.
“Give us X, we give you Z. If that happens, it’s not deception or fraud.”
I don’t agree.
If the reason you give me Z is because you think it’s going to do Y, but it doesn’t, then it’s fraud.
We aren’t just talking about turning in guns for gift cards; we’re talking about turning in guns for gift cards to make our streets safer. The problem is, it doesn’t do that.
It’s like setting up on a street corner asking for donations for charity, but keeping the money for your own use, claiming you are the someone who needs the charity.
Sir your are absolutely right. We have became a socialist society to say the least. Borderline fuckin communist. Our current government just plain sucks. A bunch of lying, thieving politicians, etc, etc. This is not the country I grew up in as a kid in the 1950’s. This country was founded by Christian pilgrims period. Have you seen any of them lately. This country is going straight to hell, just like Rome did centuries ago. What a life to look forward to and have to struggle every god damn day to survive. Give everybody guns, open carry by executive presidential order. Just like the old days of the wild west. Only way to fix this fucked up country. I’m a law abiding AMERICAN with a carry permit and know what its for. Yep, fuck old grandma out of a family heirloom. It’s a god damn shame. God Bless America! Because not another living soul in there right might ever would. Hoorah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of those interesting and very ignored facts is one of the two rifles used in the massacre in Tasmania had been handed into the Victorian police.
I think the personal use / sell for cash post was probably more accurate than they planned to say.
I guarantee that if I were a police office who collects guns for a hobby I would love to have a turned in classic firearm (like a Colt Python) for free, of course for RECREATIONAL use.
If I was on the Crestview, Florida City Council, I would ask why donated guns aren’t sold to an FFL at market value, the proceeds used for department operations (to lessen the burden on taxpayers), and all documentation presented to the city’s auditors on request.
Well said.
And Curtis in IL wins the Intertubez for best idea in the first week of the new year.
You assume that they aren’t sold and the proceeds going to the donut/scholarship/lifestyle fund. Long a black hole for DOD surplus equipment transferred to the popo.
No mistake here…gimme yer gat peon. No mention about being a felon or gangbanger. Plenty of dealers,pawnshops or folks on Armslist would give you remuneration. Why so many of us had negative feedback on “do you trust cops” 😖😫😡
Well, this is unintentionally hilarious. The basic gist is “We would love for you to give us your guns so we can go plinking with them.”
Something happen a few years ago in my home and the cops cane i was asked if i had any guns and i said yes. So they got them and later when i ask for them i was told i couldn’t get them. My daughter could but not me ever. I ran in to one of them and told him just what i thought of them, DON’T LISTEN TO THESE COPS CAUSE WE NEED OUR GUNS AND THAT IS A TRUE FACT.
Cops getting free guns. Imagine that.
“Guns in any condition can be brought in, …
Yeah. I’ll get right the eff on that.
Douche-bags.
They’ve run out of guns from evidence to plant on Black men after they shoot them.
No kidding. The cops don’t need the guns; the folks are doing a good enough job of killin each other without having to throw the police in.
Yeah, we do this all the time. I carry a Hi-Point 9mm and a Taurus PT92 in my go-bag just in case I feel like shooting a pair of young black gentlemen minding their own business and then pass it off as a “drug deal gone wrong.”
We even had 20 hours of training on this at the academy. 12 classroom, 8 practical.
*sarcastic eye-rolling
I wonder what kind of aneurism you’d have if you saw black police officer? I guess a honkey like you would call them an Uncle Tom? Typical liberal racist.
Why did you capitalize the “B” in black? Comes across as being a bit of a racist.
If I live in a different State can I still give them the firearm that survived the boat wreck?
Give them the boat.
Since trhese affaird are usually “no questions asked,” I would assume so.
Shooters will be distributed to our officers for their personal financial gain or recreational use.
Non shooters, will have the serial #s ground off by police personnel and be distributed as drop pieces to officers in the field.
“Those weapons that are still serviceable will be given to active duty or retired law enforcement officers”
No shit. Usually, cops have to steal people’s guns.
Good lord. Looking at the posture and position of these folks I think we should be asking for THEIR firearms …
Right? Pretty sure I see at least one magwell grip and one C-clamp grip. “Highly trained”… yeah, okay.
Annnnnd here we have yet another PR “own goal” by a police department.
Is it any mystery any more why police are losing public support from conservatives, who used to back police departments reflexively against the idiocy of liberals?
idiot… not everything is a lib problem.. police by very nature and history show enough arrogance and poor training to create their own corruption and foolish testoerone to show their true nature’s. .. until quality of hiring increase to at least university degrees and psychological tests and monthly quality on jobviously training is required then cops generally will be low class poorly trained ignorant folks victimizing the weak and minorities… with all that said.. there are truly some good people in service … but times are changing and police must leave the high school grad aside as police are not soldiers and society needs better cut of person in our social contract with them.m
and you really think university training will help raise that standard with how the universities are now? i have very serious doubts about that. i look at the quality of students coming out and more than half of them are of a worse standard than grade 10 used to be and definitely far lower than grade 12 used to be. there does however need to be a definite lifting of the bar in the standards of recruits though. i know that bar has been lowered in about the last 40 years at least here in australia by a huge amount.
the real reason for this across the board and the lowering of education standards? dumb people ask less questions and follow orders from “authority” more easily without question.
so now the question becomes how do we force those education standards to be raised back to where they were
Oh and FWIW i was a thorn in my teachers A$$ during all my years at school cos of how i questioned everything
Aw, if the police officers got free guns for personal use, that would certainly be a pretty appealing benefit to draw more people to get jobs in law enforcement!
We should be trying to DISARM the police, not give them more tools to violently enforce gun control laws.
I have no problem with the idea of donating firearms to retired law enforcement for their own personal use, as long as it’s clear to donors that’s where they’re going. It’s no different from donating them to the Boy Scouts, or the high school rifle team. It’s not my particular idea of a deserving charity, but people can do what they want with their money.
Now, gifting firearms to active officers for personal use is a bad idea, for the same reason we don’t allow personal “gifts” of cash to working officers by the members of the public.
I have a friend who works for the Orange County (CA) Sheriff’s weapons ID unit.
They routinely go shooting (for fun) with seized and recovered weapons.
Lol yeah. Inherit guns from a family member you don’t want? Don’t SELL them or anything! Just give them away free of charge so some bubba cop can use them instead! ThinBlueLine and all that!
What a bunch of idiots.
I actually live in Crestview, so this doesn’t surprise me at all. This department hasn’t seen the ball since the game started. Most of these guys have less than 3 years experience and seem to write a lot of tickets, don’t don’t seem to have a clue as to how a police department should approach it’s duties to the community. They’ve recently had a chief and several of his upper echelon officers indicted for criminal acts. The City Council is as clueless as the day is long. This “Gun Giveaway” scheme is actually illegal under Florida law. (seized firearms are to be sent to the County Sheriff for disposal) I can almost hear the staff meeting where this was announced: “Let’s get people to give us their guns and we’ll take them home and play with them!” Followed by “Sure Billy Bob that’s sounds like a swell idea!” Idiots one and all.
Lawds save us from the folks who turn in an empty M-72 LAAWS tube!
So LEO can’t brag about the HAWK Missile launcher taken off the street.
man…oh….man…..this smells to hi heaven. how about the police dept….starts to go after the drug dealers and the illegals…and kick some ass there…if they need some help…I am sure gun owners would be glad to lock and load..to back the police up.
Does anyone remember the entirety of the Crestview with the exception of 2 officers who had to legally clear that den of inequity. Looks like all the oil wasn’t cleaned from that slippery slope. I truly wish for an officer that I could place respect in. Just 1 would be an aid.
police chief thinks he is in 3rd world country where people actually believe stupid lies and fake excuses… he forgot he is in FLORIDA !! IF his officers want guns,GO BUY THEM.U ARE NO DIFFERENT than any civilian.. you work for us !!
No different than police departments stealing over 4 billion annually from the resale of citizens stolen property for supposedly breaking the law.
The unbelievably MOST AMAZING thing to me about this entire side show, is that ANY GUN OWNER would SERIOUSLY even CONSIDER giving up his or her gun(s) to the government, who wants to totally disarm them, so that there will be no way they can defend themselves against the very ones whose brilliant idea it is to get YOU to “VOLUNTEER” to give up your guns. Of course, if you choose NOT to “volunteer” to give up your guns, I’m sure they have a different remedy for those who still believe they have the right, AS THEY DO, to self defense. This Right to defend yourself has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE 2ND AMENDMENT. THIS IS A NATURAL RIGHT GIVEN TO US BY THE SUPREME LAW MAKER, GOD ALMIGHTY. Now who, IN THEIR RIGHT MIND, would surrender their right to their OWN SELF DEFENSE, especially when cops are killing guys on the corner who are “illegally” selling cigarettes? That is SUCH a “serious” crime, you know, and deserves a death sentence right then and there on the street, even when the guy was CLEARLY NOT RESISTING – NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE COPS SHOUTED AT HIM, “QUIT RESISTING, QUIT RESISTING.” That was only the feeble attempt of the cops to cover their own butts. ONLY A COMPLETE IDIOT WOULD “VOLUNTARILY” EVER TURN IN THEIR GUNS. THAT IS THE EPITOME OF STUPIDITY IF I EVER SAW IT. Or maybe not the EPITOME of stupidity. I think the REAL epitome of COMPLETE & UTTER STUPIDITY is people who actually believe we will all be “safer” if we just turn in our guns, and believe it or not, there are ACTUALLY PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO BELIEVE THIS!!!!! JUST INCREDIBLE – THEIR BRAINS AND COMMON SENSE HAVE COMPLETELY LEFT THEM. THEY HAVE BEEN MIND CONTROLLED INTO ACTUALLY BELIEVING THAT THEY SHOULD TRUST THEIR “SAFETY” TO THE VERY ONES WHO WANT TO KILL THEM – BRILLIANT. JUST BRILLIANT. Do you KNOW that if you are a US Citizen, (which isn’t even a real living natural person, but a Congress invented FAKE PERSON), you have already been declared an “Enemy of the State”. See Title 50 of the US Code. And if you are an “Enemy of the State,” what do you think they want to do to you? What do governments normally do to their “ENEMIES?” I’m just sayin” – Educate yourselves, people. You have NO IDEA how things REALLY ARE.
oh i do mate. this is what i have been saying for many years now. close to 30 in fact. when i was about 15 my eyes got opened to the truth and not through anything i did wrong but through a country conservative group here in australia that have been trying to educate people for years….. at least in their own circles. not the most effective at getting the truth out there but at least some are finding out