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Is there a gun buyback season? Yes! Coincidentally enough, it coincides with election season. As I pointed out in an earlier post, the whole gun buyback shtick may be losing steam. By now most folks know that exchanging money for busted-ass firearms doesn’t do much of anything in the way of reducing crime. As in nothing. Of course, the pols, police and media continue to cling to their gun buybacks and bibles. OK, not so much the bibles. And not so much the police, either. The boys and gals in blue at the sharp end are under no illusions that gun buybacks are anything more than security theater. Specifically, Portland Oregon Central Precinct Sgt. Tim Sessions [via oregonlive.com] . . .

Portland police officers assisted with paperwork and processing the guns turned in to the foundation. Central Precinct Sgt. Tim Sessions said the police did not have a problem with the buyers on the sidewalk.

“They have a right to buy guns,” Sessions said. “That’s in the Constitution. So that doesn’t bother me a bit.”

Sessions dismissed the possibility that the sidewalk buyers would then sell to “undesirables. That’s not the case. These people know what they’re doing, They know the laws. They know they’d lose that right if they did sell to the undesirables.”

Equally unlikely, said Sessions, who assisted the foundation with its guns buyback for nine years, is the notion that gang members would be among those turning in guns.

“They really would like to see the gangs turn in the guns,” Sessions said. “And I tell them, ‘Keep wishing that.’ But it’s not going to happen.”

Gang members, first of all, want to hold onto their guns because “a gun means power. And two, they see us, the police, and they say ‘We don’t want to be caught with a gun.'”

Now, can we talk about why taxpayer money was wasted on this program, which should have been entirely and exclusively funded by its promotor The Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation? Just how much did this police-supported boondoggle cost taxpayers, anyway?

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21 COMMENTS

  1. I suspect the cops who understand it’s less than a waste of time and money try to get out of participating in the “gun buybacks” and the ones who are ordered to do it hold their tongues.

  2. I am going to be, on the sidewalk, at the next Portland Gun Buyback.

    I have a dream of a beautiful sunny day and a sweet little old lady letting me pay her $75 for her late husband’s Dan Wesson revolver in mint condition.
    I have a dream of owning a Dan Wesson Revolver.
    I have a dream of shooting a Dan Wesson Revolver.
    I have a dream.

    The Portland ASK Campaign encourages parents to ASK:
    “Is there a gun where my child plays?”

    The Portland TELL Campaign encourages gun-grabbers to post a sign in their front window TELLING:
    “This is a gun-free home”.

    • DWs really arent that special, my dad has 2 he inherited. They have a short hammrr travel, which is cool, but the lockwork tends to go soft quick. I’d take a S&W K frame over a DW any day

  3. I still can’t get over the umbrage I take with the linguistics employed in these gun “buybacks.” A “buyback” insinuates that the police/government is buying back something that was once theirs, further insinuating that peoples’ property (especially “dangerous” property) belongs to the government.

    I suppose “voluntary confiscation” or “junk disposal” don’t have that lovely Orwellian ring that leftists love so much.

  4. While waiting for the Portland Max Metro Train, I got into a conversation about guns with an armed Transit Cop who was very pro-gun. When I mentioned that I owned three guns, he reached over shook my hand and said ‘thank you sir’.

  5. for the most part i support cops. dirty cops, no. management level, for the most part no. i did know a sheriff in wva that made the statement at a press conference that his manpower was spread to thin to cover the county properly. instead of asking for more money he advised the citizens to keep a gun close. him i supported.

    • Like the Fla. Sheriff who was asked by a reporter why a cop killer had been shot 70+ times in a shootout with deputies. He responded it was because they had run out of ammo.

  6. The cops in my area get it, and the Sheriff in my area personally thanks every CCW holder when they are handed the nice laminated card. He knows he can’t give everyone a personal cop, and appreciates the fact that we go through training and take the time to gain the privilege to lawfully conceal carry. I kinda wish the gun-grabbing morons would have a buyback in my area though, I have a legally sawed off shottie (18.5″) I’d like to get rid of.

    • Hm, so that got me thinking about the pros and cons of having a personal cop. I’m left with this conundrum. Would having a personal cop detract or enhance my ability to drive above the posted speed limit?

      • If the cop is in the car, and you drive over the posted limit, and he says nothing to you, does that then make him an accessory to a crime?

        • Well, yeah… but it’s no secret that cops routinely drive far in excess of the speed limit without penalty. At least they do in my area. So if they’re with me, do I get immunity by association?

  7. The sherriff in my area would be happier if he weren’t required to issue concealed carry permits. I get the impression that he’s generally lukewarm on the whole issue of the Second Amendment.

  8. You know it seems silly that the cops are scratching their heads but the gun grabbers continue to push the buy backs. I love the group that brought in a ton of junk to find sending kids to an NRA camp! That was the best ever! Then folks had a huff about it. Really we got dangerous guns off the street and sent kids to summer camp, whats wrong with that? Oh yeah they turned in junk and the summer camp was funded by the NRA! Ha!!!
    When they start putting rules like it has be a working firearm the buy backs drop off onto nothingness.

  9. I think this is the second year guys from the northwestfireams forums went there to make offers on potential turn ins. Always nice to see Sam Adams waste taxpayer money.

  10. There was a gun buyback this past weekend at a city in the Midwest. It was a “no questions asked” event which sounds good. Of course all firearms turned in had to be operable. And they had a two guns per person limit. And handguns had to be in a clear plastic container. And long guns had to be in a case. And they were recording the serial numbers of every firearm and putting them in evidence boxes. And gun dealers, active police officers and retired police officers were not eligible to turn in firearms. Needless to say the local newspapers and television stations were there and thought it was a great success. People turned in 100 firearms and the police ran out of gift cards!

    If the objective is to “get dangerous guns off the street”, then it doesn’t make sense to accept broken junk so I can almost understand the requirement that guns be operable. If the objective is to “get dangerous guns off the street”, I don’t understand the two guns per person limit. If someone has five operable handguns and wants to turn them all in, why not accept them? If the event was a no questions asked event, how would they know if someone turning in firearms was a gun dealer or police officer (active or retired)? And the whole bit of recording serial numbers? The organizers stated that they were going to run every serial number to look for firearms that were stolen or used in a crime and hold any matches for evidence.

    There is no way in the world a criminal is going to show up at such an event much less turn in a firearm. Of course the people in line validated that fact since most of them were “old fat white guys” … some of them with wives, children, and even grandchildren in tow. But then again the mayor that organized the event didn’t expect criminals to show up anyway. His objective was getting guns out of the homes of residents. Why? He was hoping to reduce the number of guns that criminals could score in home burglaries. And that would, in theory, translate to less violent crime in his city.

    There is a silver lining to this story. At least they used private donations to pay for the gift cards so the event didn’t cost tax payers anything … except for the salaries of the half dozen or so police officers who worked at the event. Oh, and whatever it costs the police department to catalog all the evidence, store it, and run all the serial numbers.

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