“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.