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The city of Cleveland is bucking the national trend away from gun “buy backs”. They hold one every year, whether they they’re “successful” or not. This years buyback  was scheduled for last week with very little notice given. At least one Second Amendment support group, Ohioans for Concealed Carry, predicted a low turnout for the event.

From cleveland.com:

Jeff Garvas, founder of the group, said the short notice for the Sunday event may not motivate people to exchange their weapons for gift card incentives.

The Ohioans for Concealed Carry have protested the event in years past, but Garvas said there are no plans to hold an organized protest this year. Garvas said that he guarantees gun-rights advocates and collectors will be there trying to buy firearms before citizens exchange them.

Garvas was right. Last year, the 2015 turn-in event collected about 200 guns. It’s unknown how many were purchased by private buyers. Among those relinquished last year was this Winchester Model 94 lever gun.

It caught my eye because it features a nice scope on a side mount. Now it’s been melted down. I have never seen a story of street crime committed with a scoped Model 94 and don’t expect to.

In 2014, the turn-in organizers snagged 270 guns. At the same event, private buyers came away with 100 of the best that were brought in.

Last week private buyers again worked at saving good guns from a bad fate, even though turnout was down. Police collected 168 guns with the help of Mr. Meanor the Elf, above.

From wksu.org:

As in years past, several private buyers lined up nearby with signs reading “Cash 4 Guns,” looking for interesting or historical pieces. Dan Smith from Streetsboro was there, and says gun buybacks should be operated a little differently so rare pieces are not destroyed.

“We operate police auctions all the time; they sell cars and everything else. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to dispose of firearms at an auction at fair market value and make some money for the city and get these guns to people who are actually going to take care of them and be responsible with them.”

It’s unknown how many guns the private buyers saved from being melted down this year. Maybe next year the police will give a little more notice. That seems to work out better for both the city and the private buyers looking for a bargain.

It would be nice to see some cooperation to encourage private buyers to “work the line”. That would result in more guns “off the streets” and stretch the resources of police allowing them to collect guns that no one is willing to pay cash for.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

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26 COMMENTS

  1. The city of Cleveland is bucking the trend away gun “buy backs”. They hold one every year, whether they they’re “successful” or not.

    The first sentence makes no sense… is it missing a word?

    The second sentence has an extra word.

    1. Proof
    2. Read
    3. Please

    Call me “that guy,” but I seriously can’t be the only one bothered by the abundance of typos and bad grammar in the articles that seem to be pumped out at a higher and higher rate every day…

      • I don’t think most of the writers here are millennials.

        I’d say it’s either (1) they are proofreading their own work (they know what they wanted to say, so that’s what they see when they proofread), (2) their editorial staff needs to learn how to proofread, or (3) no one is proofreading shit.

        Sure, I make mistakes in my typing now and then.. but I usually catch it before I hit submit. But I also don’t write for my job.

        Just my opinion, but typos and bad grammar on a publicly consumed website are a no-no, much like emails from Nigerian princes.

  2. I have to assume that most people turning in these guns have no idea what they’ve got, or what purpose it could serve to a knowledgeable person.

    • I have been to several of these “buy backs”. The most common owners turning guns in are people who inherited them in an estate.

      They haven’t bothered to determine the firearms’ monetary value.

      There is another substantial group, albeit a minority. They are more knowledgeable types that are turning in guns that are worth less than the premium being given for them.

  3. Typophobia seems to have taken place here, who can we blame (isn’t that the “WAY” things are done these days? Geez Louise, just chillax and enjoy the wealth of knowledge spread on the site, and appreciate it no need to denigrate it.

    Now, back to the real issue; destroying guns that are classics without regard. Instead, hold auctions for these to balance the books a bit. Let the collectors and those that appreciate Grandpa’s old model 12 or his A-5, granny’s old model 51 Remington. Stupid to destroy what should be historical classics that future gens can only read about!

    * contents herein were not proofread so get off my lawn!!

    • @ Rimefire
      There’s a problem with that, for many of us who are “edumacated” some find difficulty having faith and trust in writings when the author can’t compose a properly structured paragraph, let alone a sentence that doesn’t contain obvious errors. What other shortcuts and omissions has the author taken in the substance of the story?
      As unfortunate as it may sound, if a site continually allows blatant errors, I have trouble with that. A typo is commonplace and we see that all the time, but sentences that make little sense, titles and dates and days are wrong or are contradictory in nature, is hard for some of us to accept.

      • I’m pretty sure that last sentence is a run on sentence

        It would also be titles, dates, and days. Not titles and dates and days ftr

        • I had made a number of changes to that comment, unfortunately it timed out before I could correct it. I saw it but it was with 4 seconds remaining. I was busy changing other things. That happens when you make multiple changes and have only a short time to do it. I had originally had just titles and dates, then added and days. When I read it, I saw the error, but with 4 seconds.
          That’s been another complaint of mine is the inability to change things.

  4. But but those evil guns need to be taken off of the streets before they jump off of the tables and start murdering people. PLEASE BAN THEM NOW, FOR THE CHILDREN!!! SARC/

  5. I was at last years. I spoke with a couple of CPD fireaarms instructors. The best gun they got was a derringer. Most were total rusty junk For the record the police were totally ok with people being there offering cash as well as the several people open carrying. They were very nice and professional. They were talking guns with us for about 30 min.

  6. Many years ago my city held their first one at some city firehouses . The on duty firemen got some sweet guns, mostly brought in by folks in the burbs on their way to work .

    After that the city switched locations …. Sadly .

  7. Yes, give more notice so I can stock up on cheap AR lowers and spring powered air soft rifles($50 toys).
    Since the lowers are what requires a background check, it should be counted as an “assault rifle”, and thus worth the $100~$200 they usually offer for those particular firearms. The cheapo air soft rifles look real, so they’ll certainly fetch the “assault rifle” buy back price.

  8. I highly doubt the City of Cleveland (or any local government in NE Ohio) would cooperate with anyone in a way that would be beneficial for the common defense or appreciate the historical significance of “levermatic babbykillin salt waffles.”

  9. There are some audio-actuated auto printers, perhaps this is what some authors are using…when you stutter or mispronounce, it prints it like it hears it – garbage in, garbage out, and all that…

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