There will be a gun turn-in event this Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term, “buyback” the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them. The event will be held at North Jacksonville Baptist Church, 8531 N. Main from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers are offering $50 for firearms. In a new twist, the Police Athletic League will also receive $50 for each firearm turned in. People are supposed to be able to turn in firearms on a no-questions-asked basis. The Sheriff’s office, which in Jacksonville is also known as the police, will be running the event and will check firearms to determine if they are stolen. Over the last year, 2,035 firearms have been turned in . . .
Of those, 33 have been found to be stolen, the thefts occurring as far back as 1969. This percentage is slightly higher than usually seen at these events. Private buyers have little to fear of buying stolen firearms at these events. Florida even has a website where firearms purchasers can check to see if a firearm is listed as stolen in the state.
There’s another aspect of this turn-in that makes it different. From jacksonville.com:
Those that are considered collectables, such as antiques, are not destroyed, Rutherford said. He said others are cut apart and melted.
How the collectible firearms are disposed of wasn’t explained.
Ballistic tests will not be run on all of the firearms collected. That is easily understandable, because ballistic testing costs money, perhaps as much as was paid for the firearm, and results in little usable information. It would be silly to run ballistic tests on every .22 rifle that is brought in, and ballistic tests on shotguns are generally useless.
Across the country, communities, police departments and churches are sponsoring gun turn-ins to get “guns off the street”. At many of these events, private buyers are showing up, offering cash for the more valuable guns. These private additions to the public turn-in are effective, no doubt, in getting more guns off the street, because they add to the resources that are available to those who want to get rid of guns for something of value, be it a grocery card or a number of twenty dollar bills.
You can help make the turn-in in your area more effective by standing on the curb with your “Cash for Guns” sign, or at a folding table, willing to offer more than the gift card for firearms that are more valuable. It would be best if numerous private parties were available, as more good guns could then be transferred into responsible hands.
This action serves many useful purposes. It stretches the turn-in budget so that more guns can be taken off the street. It helps keep fearful widows from being defrauded of most of the market value of the gun they are turning in. It prevents valuable assets from being destroyed by bureaucratic inflexibility. It is a win-win-win situation.
It also dispels the pernicious message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.
Private sales are legal in Florida. Open carry of firearms is generally not legal, but it appears that brief displays of a firearm are accepted, if the display is not in a threatening manner.
Numerous examples of private sales at gun turn in events
Recent article about private buyers at Milwaukee event
Phoenix article: pictures of private buyers
Some counties in Florida have a special provision to require background checks on all guns sold on property where the public has the right of way. The ordinace has been preempted by state law for people with valid concealed carry permits. It does not appear that Duval county has such a local ordinance, but I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the Internet.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.