“People lined up in front of the Doles Community Center with boxes and bags containing firearms an hour before the city opened the doors Saturday to the first gun buyback program in more than eight years,” lohud.com reports. Regular readers know my laundry list of complaints about these “feel good” firearms turn-in events: the no-question-asked policy eliminates the possibility of a criminal investigation, they create a market for stolen firearms (encouraging criminals to steal firearms), they waste taxpayer money (even if it’s just police overtime), they vilify guns, they disarm citizens, they destroy valuable firearms and they accomplish zilch in terms of reducing crime. “Gun buybacks” are nothing more than political theater. Still, the results are interesting and there’s a sad, make that pathetic twist to this tale . . .
People surrendering weapons received the gift cards in exchange: $500 for an assault rifle, $200 for a handgun and $100 for a rifle or shotgun. High-capacity magazines earned a $20 buyback. . . .
Police collected so many guns that they had to stop the event early. By the time it was over in mid-afternoon, they had taken in an assault rifle, 10 assorted rifles and shotguns, and 27 handguns — no questions asked.
“It exceeded all of our expectations,” said Derickson K. Lawrence of Westchester County Crime Stoppers, which sponsored the event. “It’s an overwhelming response.”
The group contributed $8,000 in gift cards, with Mount Vernon Deputy police Commissioner Richard Burke running to an electronics store several hours into the event to purchase $3,600 more gift cards on behalf of the city.
Don’t you just love the image of Commissioner Richard Burke running – running I tell you! – to a local business to spend taxpayer money without prior authorization? Neither do I.
And how do we know that this buyback, like all “buybacks” that preceded it and follow, are anti-gun agitprop? Because we hear the magic words:
A local religious leader turned in five weapons that people had given to him, said Police Commissioner Terrance Raynor.
“If we save just one life by getting these off the street, it’s worth it,” he said.
No. No it’s not.
New York is a lost cause.
The culture is liberal poison.
There are two New Yorks: New York state and New York City (Mt Vernon being right at its border). Molon Labe is strong upstate.
That is correct. Most of the counties in NY hate laws like the Safe Act. Unfortunately, the 5 counties that make up NYC have about half of the state’s population, and they think they need to keep the rest of is restricted, for our own good. Throw in a couple of other counties (like Albany), and you have enough to pass any stupid law you want. Vermont is just far enough away from my job that I can’t make the commute, otherwise I would probably be a Bennington resident.
Same goes in Illinois. Chicago is a cesspool of crime. It is infested with Democrats of course. If you look at a voting map, the whole state is practically red with Chicago and surrounding cities being blue. They inflict the most stupid and illogical things on the whole state.
Let’s not forget the government cannot “buy back” something that was never theirs to begin with.
‘Buy-up’, or ‘Buy-down’, would be more accurate.
20 bucks a mag…. when are they gonna have this here in AZ?!
No kidding Bring it to IL too, you can buy “Hi Cap” mags on palmetto for $6 a piece, resell for 20.. I could make some decent money.
As much as I hate the programs I find it morally distasteful to waste taxpayer money, not to mention the political drawbacks (We collected 500 high capacity magazines, people must hate them!)
Saw a post on internet the other day it read: “I saw a movie where only the police and the military had guns, it was called Schindler’s List” (I read ahead or I might have guessed “The Pianist” but there are really too many to faithfully repeat here).
Dear NY’rs, we got your governor/state houses/and now your cops hunting you down and taking your guns for us. It didn’t even cost us $25 in sheet music or beads and trinkets or cholera laced blankets, we got them to use your money. When they are done, we’re going to jedi mind-trick them into pulling your gold filings and putting you into ovens, then we’ll pack them offr to Nuremburg, case closed.
First law of nature – the dumb must suffer
Second law of nature – suffer in silence
Small minded small states should do their self-stimulation in more private venues.
I wish they would have one around me. I got over 150 HK91/G3 mags I paid $1.50ea for!
LOL…farmer Tyler, I know another guy that just happens to be a farmer the also has several boxes of 91 mags that he will never get rid of unless there is a gun buyback, maybe ya’ll are brothers? BTW that 1919a4 is a pretty good deal, checked it out last night…you’ll be happy with it.
They won’t have them here, because we have a law on the books that says that any working firearms collected through buyback programs have to be auctioned off. Which they opposed because those firearms would be auctioned off to FFL holders who would perform background checks on every person who purchases?
I don’t know… Anti-gunners are weird…
No kidding. I could make a tidy profit on my 99$ PA-63s.
Is a Hi Point carbine an “assault rifle”? Could do some quick flips
Yep. Under the Safe Act, pretty much anything is an assault weapon. The law bands the sale, transfer (except to an ffl), and possession of any rifle that is semiautomatic with a detachable magazine, and one “evil” feature (pistol grip, muzzle brake, folding/telescoping stock, vertical foregrip, bayonet lug, threaded barrels, etc). The only way to possess one legally is to be a LEO or to have registered one that you owned before passage of the law. There are plenty of other onerous parts, but that’s pretty much the past that makes the normal pistol caliber carbines illegal.
I have serious doubts that the AK the cops are holding was part of the turn in. Judging by the furniture(Magpul?), sling, and the rifle case behind the cop, and its nice looking finish, it’s either stolen, in which case the rightful owner should get it back, or it’s one of cops’ personal weapons brought in for a photo op.
That’s TAPCO.
I stand corrected. Still looks pretty well taken care of for a buyback gun.
No doubt the actual owner cared for it. He’d probably also like it back.
Some of the old imported WASR-10’s don’t function all that reliably and I think were $300-400 brand new a few years back. I would’ve gotten rid of one easily if they were offering $500.
Let’s see now. How does this work?
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I go out and steal a handgun, Kill someone with it during a robbery. Now I need to get rid of that gun that has my DNA on it.
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No Problem, Jack. Just trot down to the Saturday BuyBack and sell it to the POO LICE for $200.00 No questions asked.
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Why Hell, That’ better’n throwin’ it off the bridge inta da river.
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Ain’t dat somthin’?
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They are helping get guns off the street… guns that normally they could recover as evidence to solve crimes are now getting crushed, melted, etc… A feel good measure that seem like it actually would help criminals. Exactly as you said, stolen guns, guns used in murders, all wiped clean by a buy back.
Sounds like a nifty way to finance a new gun or two.
I have 63 G3 20 round mags I paid a dollar a piece for a while back. I would have turned in all of them for a $19 payback. $1197 would pay for the mags and a new friggin’ rifle.
The argument about stolen firearms and crime guns being turned in no questions asked is a double edged sword. Private sales without an ffl middleman can be viewed the same.
No its not. Possession of a stolen gun is a felony. That alone would get you 3 years in the pen in Florida.
How do you know the private sale doesn’t involve a stolen or crime gun? There’s lots of reasons to critise buy back programs. But pointing out the chances of stolen property or crime guns being destroyed is one we need to lay off.
I bought guns at yards sales in my youth. From people I did not know. Where stolen guns or crime guns ever involved? No way to know, for sure.
You either missed the point or you side stepped it. If for some reason you have a stolen gun in your possession and it is found out . . . a defensive gun use for example . . . you have problems. If you buy a stolen gun and report it stolen you have problems. In Florida, a stolen gun possession will net you 3 years. I am not against private sales by individuals by any means. You seem to be making a case for the so-called Universal Checks (and de facto registration). I am against that.
Privately sold firearms are not destroyed, therefor there is no loss as being evidence. Should have thought that one through before you spoke.
“People lined up in front of the Doles Community Center with boxes and bags containing firearms…”
It’s a wonder the NY officers didn’t charge these folks with concealed firearms violations.
Shouldn’t all of these guns in one place have led to scores of people getting killed?
They had to “stop the event early” after buying a lousy THIRTY-EIGHT guns? Jeez, how much time did they allow for this event? That can’t have taken more than an hour, at the outside.
That was my thought: what these people just demonstrated is how inefficient their police are. Two officers ought to be able to process 38 weapons in under an hour while munching donuts and swigging coffee.
20 bucks a mag? 200 bucks for a handgun? Time to go turn in some ‘jamohmatics,’ and 5 buck beat up AR mags. With luck you could sell the gift cards online for 95% of their value and go out and buy some real evil looking guns.
38 firearms. they must have had some really low expectations. And no, they did not get an assault rifle.
I suspect the reporter confused “assault rifle” with “assault weapon,” the latter of which is a legal term in NY since the SAFE Act.
“A local religious leader turned in five weapons that people had given to him”
Sounds like transfers without a background check. Isn’t that illegal in NY, especially the handguns?
Really officer these aren’t mine. People gave them to me to turn in and was just in my way there.
HEY, Give Al Sharpton a break. He needs to find someway to pay back all those back taxes.
The “if we save just one life” line is a bunch of bunk. It has never been proven that these PC tricks have ever saved any lives. While there is proof on at least a monthly basis, that guns do save lives.
It must be hard not to look like a Nazi douchebag when you’re sweeping up guns. Seems standard from the pictures of every anti-2A operation.
I don’t understand how a buyback like this doesn’t get swamped with magazines.
$20 for a high capacity mag which I bought for $5, I should make aprofit
If they ever had one of those here. It would be a good way to make a buck off of my paperweight Davis 380.
I broke the diecast firing pin 25 years ago. It wasn’t worth the $3 they wanted for a new firing pin.
I paid $65 for it new.
Get $200 in NY what a deal!!!!!.
“It wasn’t worth the $3 they wanted for a new firing pin.”
THAT, sir, made my morning! I had to ‘splain my LOL to my co-workers.
Just one of those zimac wonder guns. You shoot it and wonder where the shell would go??
Usually smacked me in the forehead. I had no idea the firing pin broke in half.
I dropped the gun getting in my car one February morning, Thought nothing of it since it didn’t go bang!!!!
Carried that paper weight for a few months too. Then one day decided to clean the lint out of it and low and behold. Out drops the firing pin in 2 pieces followed by what looked like the spring out of a ball point pen.
What a POS that gun was.
Im serous I still have it and yes it is a paper weight on my desk.
#467580C Firing Pin $17.75 Buy Now dammed thing must be valuable today LOL.
Every time I see people lined up for these events my mind sees German Jews meekly boarding trains.
That’s it! That’s the image I see as well. Sadly, very few other s want to admit it can and may come to that again. When it does, they’ll all say, “How did it come to this?”
The Jews didn’t get a good deal at the end of the ride…
But in actuality these events see most people turning in crap guns for more money they can use to buy more guns.
Call me paranoid or an insurrectionist or whatever Bloomberg’s PR machine is calling people who are capable of independent thought these days….but how can anyone see these staged events as anything but practice for the day when it isn’t optional?
By that I don’t mean practice to refine their operation, but practices to get people accustomed to weapons turn-ins.
Trust me. You’re not the only one thinking that.
“Gun buyback”… they were never yours in the first place. How are you buying them “back”?
If they were truly interested in “saving just one life” they could be 1000 times more effective if they never operate another motor vehicle again…
Here in AZ all guns surrendered, or confiscated, or even “bought back” have to be sold back to the public. It’s a fairly new law that prohibits the government from destroying them.
Some day, if I can ever get out of NY, I’m going to Arizona.
Sure feels good to have a dream
We can’t wait for you to make your escape.
As the Friendliest gun state in the country (according to Guns & Ammo Magazine and… smart people) we continue working every day to make our state better. So, if it takes you a while to get here, it will just be that much better when you do.
the mayor of mt. Vernon is a convicted criminal, and is still in office. That should give you an idea of how things are in that fair city.
Those cops pictured above, imo look more like keyboard commandos, than cops. The guy in blue dont have a name tag, or a.patch.
“A local religious leader turned in five weapons that people had given to him …”
I beg your pardon? There’s a line differentiating ecclesiastical privilege and aiding in the commission of a crime. If any one of those guns was used in a crime, that “local religious leader” is a felon. If I were him/her, there’s no way I’d accept weapons on behalf of members of my congregation or the public.
My biggest beef with these gun buybacks is the “no questions asked” policy that eliminates the possibility of these guns being used to solve crimes. Any city/village/county/parish/Police or Sheriff’s Dept. that applies such a policy is, in my opinion, obstructing justice and aiding in the commission of violent crimes. You can bet your butt that if I was the executive of the state or this nation that I’d have the DoJ/AG looking into the practice with a bias towards prosecuting these people. There are families that will never get justice for their loved ones because their own governments provided amnesty for the criminals. It’s unconscionable.
An old mosin, duct tape a black grip to the fore end, and a 12 dollar ” clipazine” in front of the trigger guard.. cover the whole thing in black shoe polish and yu got yur $500.00 assault gun
I wonder, if I turned in a bunch of AR stripped lower receivers, would they give me $500 a piece for them?
Obviously it is theater. $500 for an old AK? I’ll go get a shiny new one! But these guns are being turned in primarily by lawful citizens, the buybacks do not take guns out of the hands who are not supposed to have them. Who is turning them in and why? Are they sitting around, inherited, broken, disinterested owners? Buybacks are nothing more than and would best be labeled what they are; Gov’t funded disarmament programs.
And the “if it saves one life” phrase for the anti’s is worn out. In reality this is more of a pro-gun statement anyway.
I have yet to see anybody involved with these circuses tell us what is done about stolen guns turned in, if any. Are serial numbers checked against lists of stolen guns? This was 38 guns, how long would that take? Police officers are there earning pay, were they checking numbers? If a stolen gun is found, what are the procedures for returning it to the owner? And BTW, that is only partly a joke, I am willing to entertain the idea that some police officers are not crooks and thieves, so let’s see it!
$200 for ANY handgun????
As someone who is font of 3D printing, it occurs to me that you could probably print 10 liberator pistols with like $20 of plastic
That is a great idea. Hell it would be worth the drive. Just need some heads up next time around. honestly I don’t think they would even know if it was a functional weapon. You could probably turn in airsoft pistols.
“People surrendering weapons received the gift cards in exchange: $500 for an assault rifle, $200 for a handgun and $100 for a rifle or shotgun. High-capacity magazines earned a $20 buyback. . . .”
You can afford to be pretty damn generous when you’re spending OPM.