Madison, Wisconsin had a gun turn-in event last weekend. This type of event is also known as a gun “buy back” — a propaganda term designed to convince people that all guns (property) belong to the government, and that anything the government takes it is simple taking “back.” This event turned out to be a bust . . .
Only one gun appears to have been turned in. Statistically, in Wisconsin, it was likely a broken single shot shotgun or an old .22 rifle.
Academics have routinely found that gun turn-in events do not produce useful results, and likely waste of police resources. From the Freakonomics web site:
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.
This isn’t a particularly unusual conclusion; academic studies reveal again and again that gun “buybacks” don’t reduce crime, and point out that police resources could be better focused elsewhere.
In 2000, Harvard academic and notorious gun control proponent Garen Wintemute had a definite opinion about gun turn-ins. “The continuation of buyback programs is a triumph of wishful thinking over all the available evidence,” Dr. Wintermute told chicagotribune.com.
In the intervening 16 years, Mr. Wintemute has changed his thinking. He now admits that the propaganda value of “buybacks” is the most important part of the program. From governing.com:
“They have intangible value that we have really been underestimating,” he says. “They never will reduce rates of violent crime, but that may have been the wrong parameter to look at.”
As part of a larger discussion about public safety, Wintemute says, buybacks may play an important role in mobilizing a community to examine gun control.
Like all gun “buybacks” that was the hidden purpose — and the only result — of the Madison turn-in event. From nbc15.com:
“The event today is designed save youths. These young ladies right here need to grow up without getting shot, without getting shot, without worrying about their mom, dad being shot. It’s too much senseless violence and mainly in the black community,” Maymon said.
Madison police collected at least one gun as a result of the program and they also passed out free gun locks to registered gun owners.
Scott L. Schable in the comments:
Wisconsin does not require registration of all firearms, and cities cannot force registration. Cities have never owned the firearms, so the “gun buybacks” are a scam, so it needs to reported that Madison and other cities don’t want to enforce the gun laws, and just make the sanctuary cities for criminals and gangs.
We may never know if there were any private buyers at the Madison event. But we do know that private buyers destroy the propaganda value of the message that “guns are bad, turn them in to the police.” Private buyers send the message that guns are useful for armed self-defense. As we know they are.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch