The Evanston, Illinois Police Department held a gun turn-in on Saturday, offering $100 for any gun dropped off, no questions asked. People turning in guns had to identify themselves as being from a limited geographical area. They had to be residents of Skokie, Evanston, or the North side of Chicago. [ED: We have no idea why Evanston would make that a requirement]

It’s interesting to note that ID has to be used to turn in guns to the police, but is forbidden as a requirement to cast a  vote. The requirement for I.D. was no doubt due to Second Amendment entrepreneurs who use these events to dump old, cheap, guns.

Advertisements for the event in the affluent Chicago suburb said there would be no arrests; it was an amnesty event.

The guns turned in were supposed to be functional. Some amount, to be determined at the gun turn in, would be paid for ammunition and magazines. A total of 32 firearms were turned in for $100 each; six long guns, and 26 handguns.

From patch.com:

EVANSTON, IL — Police announced 32 guns were brought in to a gun buyback event Saturday at Christ Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Evanston. The buyback brought in 26 handguns and six long guns at $100 apiece. The unwanted firearms are not longer at risk of misuse or entering the criminal market, police said.

Police thanked all the citizens who turned in their guns and said community cooperation made the event a success. The $3,200 in cash that funded the event was provided by an anonymous donor. The buyback was organized by the Evanston P.D.’s Problem Solving Team, according to a release.

The long guns included a couple of collectible items. There appears to be a WWII M1 carbine. Carbines, if they are original, command a good price. Even aftermarket carbines are worth hundreds of dollars. A Winchester Model 1907 is just above the carbine. They were chambered for the .351 Winchester round, which is expensive and difficult to come by. The rifles go for about $600-$900.

One intriguing turn in looks like a Webley top break that was nickel plated, with a 2-inch barrel.  There are a three other older top break revolvers, along with a North American Arms mini revolver.

There was one shotgun with a sawed off barrel, wrapped in something like duct tape in the pile. Those generally require an NFA tax stamp for legal ownership.

It’s unlikely that any of these firearms have been used in the commission of a crime. Even leftist academics agree that turn-ins do little to deter “gun violence.”

From Freakonomics

When it comes to gun buybacks, both the theory and the data could not be clearer in showing that they don’t work. The only guns that get turned in are ones that people put little value on anyway. There is no impact on crime. On the positive side, the “cash for clunkers” program is more attractive than the gun buyback program because, as long as they are being driven, old cars pollute, whereas old guns just sit there.

A variety of academic studies are in agreement that gun “buybacks” do not reduce crime and that police resources used for them could be better spent elsewhere.

The major purpose of these events is for their PR and propaganda value: guns are bad, turn them in to the police.

 

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Oh that Winchester 1907 and M1 carbine, ouch! Other than that not impressed. I wonder who on the department gets first dibs on these?

  2. Damn – that M1 carbine would have been nice to have. I doubt we will have one of those here in TX, but if they do, I’ll hang around ready to make a better offer.

    • The last time Seattle did one of these, they did it across the street from my apartment (at the time). There were several of us out there offering to buy anything that looked appealing.

      If they have a new one, I’m going to make some single shot shotguns out of pipes and try to turn those in.

  3. I wonder how many of those “collectables” will be destroyed instead of finding a new collector…maybe one with a badge…

      • Most went home with cops, or were destroyed? Because I’m betting on the former.

        And, as bothersome as that is, I guess I’d rather that than see history melted down for Peace Dildos, or whatever.

  4. Sometimes they even ban private parking lot sales at these events with cops shooing away buyers.

    • I went to outbid the cops in Waltham MA a few years ago and was harassed by the cops, threatened with arrest, etc. The cops who work these events are generally very anti gun and real pricks

        • In MA police chiefs have complete say over gun licenses. I didn’t want to risk getting it pulled by them bitching to my town’s chief. You need a gun license to even possess a gun and ammo, never mind conceal carry. If the chief pulled my license, I have no recourse in MA, the state courts will back up the chief 99.999999% of the time. Fed courts here are Dem tilted, no help

        • You need a licence to even have a single expended brass under Mass law.

          If a pal takes you to the range to teach you to shoot, and you save a 9mm expended brass and throw it in your desk drawer at home as a souvenir of your day, you are committing a gun crime in Mass.

          Any constituent part from which ammo can be made is “ammunition.” And such cases have been fully and vigorously prosecuted in places that have such laws — even when no gun is present, the person has no criminal record or criminal activity and when no other crime whatsoever has occurred.

  5. So according to the tweet this was a Evanston, Illinois P.D. “Buyback”. Does that mean the P.D. also sell guns?

  6. I would have paid good $$ for the M1 carbine and a couple others I saw on the guns pictured on the table. Only idiots turn in decent guns , and only to get their next crack fix or buy other drugs. Well good for the police , they helped some drug addicts get their next fix !! How special they must feel 😆

  7. I get more pissed off by the term “buyback” every time I hear it.

    Back? What do you mean “back”? You got a totalitarian in your pocket?

    You never owned shit, weasels.

  8. So the jews of Skokie are turning in their guns???? Skokie, where the national socialists in the 1970s said they would come back “to finish the job” Hitler started????

    Aaron Zelman, founder of the JPFO was correct. Self hating liberal jews have learned nothing from their own history. In fact they lie about holocaust history. I know most of them are socialist progressive like Bernie Sanders.

    • The City Council in Deerfield that passed that gun ban are nearly all Jewish as well. I don’t think it’s that they don’t know their history, I think they know it too well. The dirty secret is that pogroms historically had widespread support among the masses and were generally opposed by the elites. So now Jews cling to power and distrust armed peasants.

      • American jews are mostly fools. They lie about gun civil rights. And they lie about the civil rights movement, saying guns were never used.

        They denied the very existence of the Deacons For Defense and Justice. TTAG has had many posts about anti gun Jewish people over the years.
        I can’t stop people who willingly walk into a gas chamber, totally trusting the government.

        If they think I will follow them into the showers, they should think again.

        • You are referring to the TTAG that was started by Jews, where the Editor in Chief is a Jew, and several of the writers are Jewish? That TTAG?

  9. Yikes! This so-called buyback had no real local news coverage. To those wondering Evanston(home to NW University) is a bastion of smug leftards and a large homeless population who harrass those downtown by the EL. Mebbe Boch shouldn’t publicize his Chiraq invasion. Oh well…I DID have a cute Evanston girlfriend way back when.

  10. Avoid the rush, sell all your guns not chambered in 6.5 creedmore or that don’t take glock magazines.

  11. Fun fact, in Illinois it is illegal to own a short barreled shotgun… Not sure about large bore DDs that also qualify as shotguns under Illinois law, but that sawed-off abomination was a walking felony.

    • Yeah the guy who owns Westforth in Gary,IN tried to sell me a Shockwave-I told him that ain’t legal in ILLinois. Indiana beckons😧

    • shotguns that have never had a stock mounted (delivered with a pistol grip) may have short barrels in illinois. it will transfer as a 12ga or whatever pistol.
      a stocked rifle must have minimum 16″, a shotgun 18″ barrel.
      there is an exception for c&r license holders, but i can’t specifically find it. i think it allows for pistol gripped shotties to be cut down legally, but again- not if a stock has ever been mounted.

      evanston is filled with ultra weenie do gooder knucklehead commies. time was when it was half blue collar with some industry. no more.

  12. Conditioning the masses. First buyback( swarf explained that) then it’s no buy what so ever. March lockstep to your nearest precinct, hand us your firearms, you will be scrutinized by the Central Scrutinizer and if found to be in any violation off to the Gulag. This is more then PR virtue. …. No questions asked, thankyou for your facial recognition scan, Big Brother loves you.

    • Gulag?

      The Reds told people they just had to come down and register their guns. No biggie.

      Instead they confiscated the burners and shot the [now previous] owners in the back of the head. That was “gun registration” Moscow style a la 1917 or so.

  13. Buying stolen guns ? I am sure if any of these were reported stolen that they will be returned and the moon is made of cheese .

  14. I love that here in Arizona, the city of Tucson got successfully sued for not reselling guns to the public. Living in one of the most pro-gun states is great. Even most of the liberals I know here begrudgingly accept gun ownership and concealed carry as just part of life.

    I moved from California to Arizona specifically for the gun laws. Just don’t tell my wife, she thinks we moved for cost of living and job opportunity.

  15. It’s always the cool guns that get found at buybacks. High Standard derringer, 2 inch Webley… that stuff isn’t common. Could have offered $200 for each and walked away with a deal.

  16. Gun buybacks work. I don’t know what you’re all talking about. Turn in some old POS you have that isn’t worth anything and take the $ to upgrade.

    • exactly. I was just searching “gun buybacks” in my neck of the woods after reading this article. some offer gift cards from 100-200 dollars for a functioning weapon. I have a couple that are old/worthless and could use some space in the safe and the buyback dollars would go towards filling that space. everybody wins. gestapo get their security theater publicity shot with my crappy old .22 that looks like a scary black rifle, and I get something shiny and new to replace it. Gun manufacturers get my dollars. and the wheel goes round and round. Am I providing aid and comfort to the enemy? nah…thats what the Fudds do. As long as I replace one black rifle with a better one, net gain I say.

  17. I put forth the notion that these “buybacks” aren’t really being done to actually accomplish anything. They are essentially practice runs for the BIG buyback, ala Australia. They are being done to normalize such programs in the minds of the general public so that most people won’t squeal so much when it happens here.

    • $100????….hardly fair market value…anything functional is worth that much…suspect this is only useful for people who want to “get the gun out of the house” and find this convenient…it’s effect on crime is virtually nil….good pr, though…..

  19. The M-1 Carbine was probably not turned in nor the other just added by persons unknown to make it look good or as bait. When was the last murder, robbery done with a WW2 M-1 Carbine?

  20. Notice it said 32 guns were turned in. Did it say the photo was of those 32? Or is that a picture of 32 guns not related to ANY buyback? Those could have come an estate sale seizure, or something to that effect, which is much more likely to contain a bunch of cool old revolvers, a sawed off, an M1, etc. The “buyback” probably earned them a bunch of Daisy pellet pistols from the seventies…..

  21. More Liberal nonsense. It’s like the DARE program, multiple studies determine that it has no effect on drug use (feel free to search it if you disagree), just as these buy-back effect on crime. But they are a visible way to fool people into thinking that something is being done to prevent the issue at hand.

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