Posted on 12/15/2004 8:14:35 AM PST by looscnnn
Columbia is hoping to reduce crime by reducing the number of guns in the city.
The city will be offering $50 to $100 per firearm to those who turn in their weapons from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Capital City Stadium.
“When you take guns off the streets you save lives,” City Councilman E.W. Cromartiesaid at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “Make our streets, homes and neighborhoods safe.”
The idea for “Gun Amnesty Day” came from the Unity 2004 summit in October, which focused on improving services and programs to decrease youth violence.
Unity 2004 leaders gathered Tuesday morning for a follow-up session and were told by City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine that a Teen Hot Line will be available in January. By dialing 311, teens can talk to specially trained operators who will offer guidance regarding violence issues.
Teens who are in gangs can call if they want to know how to get out. If they have information they want to share, they can do so anonymously, Devine said.
Saturday, people will have the opportunity to turn in guns with no questions asked, Cromartie said.
Individuals will receive $50 to $100 per firearm, depending on the type of gun and whether it is operational. The guns will be destroyed.
For safety reasons, organizers ask for all guns to be unloaded before exchange.
Similar programs have been tried in the country’s major metropolitan areas, including 10 years ago in Columbia.
In April 1994, more than 350 weapons were swapped for gift certificates. The department collected a variety of guns including rifles, .22s, .38s, semiautomatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns.
City Manager Charles Austin, then police chief, recalled one man who turned in a gun and refused the incentive. He said the man was prone to domestic violence and wanted the gun out of his home to prevent him from using it on his wife.
Why? It is a fact. Look at public "education", they are defrauding the tax payer. Look at "eminant (sp?) domain", they defraud the property owner and tax payers. Need I go further?
Their actions do sometimes make true anarchism (not to be confused with what socialist college street punks call anarchism) very appealing. But only sometimes.
Please let us know if you can meet us at the stadium for a couple of hours Saturday morning. Bring signs if you can. Anyone with ideas for appropriate signs, please post them on this list.
If you plan to come and want to trade cell phone numbers, freepmail me or email me at d242a AT bellsouth dot net. If anyone gets there before I do on Saturday and runs into trouble, tell the cops that Jim Meggs and Bob Cooper of the city attorneys office said we did not need a permit. That is based on what the chief of police told them.
There's a BoJangles right across the street from the stadium if anyone needs hot coffee. We should stay on the Olympia Ave. side of the stadium, which is a busier street than Shop Road. Let's plan to meet up across the street from the BoJangles.
So how did it go?
Anyways, isnt this typical leftist condescension toward average citizens? The only people that will get rid of guns in a program like this are people ignorant of a guns value, people unloading POS guns, and criminals interested in destroying evidence.
No actual criminally inclined person is going to cough up a gun, duh. The left knows this but it gives them the opportunity to psture as thogh they really give a DemocRATS a$$ about criminal violence (not GUN violence).
Two types of people show up for these stupid turn-in's!
1. The law abiding, mostly elderly, who feel they need $50-$100 NOW, more than they need an old gun for possible future protection or hunting.
These scams invariably take in several guns worth a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, almost any operable used gun is likely to worth at least two to three times what these charlatans are offering, from any legitimate firearms dealer.
But the people who get taken in by these offers fail to consider that fact, lulled into a false sense that they are "doing something" about crime!
Unless they are in fact criminals, their turning in these guns only makes life easier for the real criminals as the honest citizens are disarmed!
2. Criminals!
They LOVE these turn-in's, they not only get to dispose of guns they have stolen or used in several crimes without any questions, they get PAID to do so!
They can then use the bounty money to buy fresh stolen guns, breaking the evidence trail that keeping the old gun might held against them.
They typically turn in the few guns not worth the bounty offered, Lorcins, Davis, Sundance, etc.
They quickly learn that the dunce taking the guns knows nothing about them, and have been known to turn in broken toy guns for the full reward.
These turn-in's are a SCAM!
Feel-good garbage, ripping off the honest citizens who participate AND the taxpayer who funds them.
But the liberal MSM supports them, so they will continue until it is proven that they enabled some serial murderer to escape punishment.
The theft of valuables from the elderly they also represent has already been documented, but the MSM and feel-gooder's do not care.
I am a licensed firearms dealer, I know what sort of guns turn up in these buys, particularly the guns the elderly turn in.
Been tried, cops will run off or arrest you!
It's OK for the local P.D. Chief to give a widow $50 for the Luger Artillery model with matching holster stock, then "accidently" take it home for later sale at the $2,500 it is really worth.
But if a legitimate gun dealer or citizen shows up and starts passing around an up to date value guide, they will probably find themselves being subject to inquisition by the ATF or FBI!
These are set pieces for the liberal media, gun grabbers, and MSM, the truth only interferes with their agenda and will NOT be tolerated!
There IS an organization to compete with this BS, it is all the honest Gun Dealers of America.
I buy guns that people no longer want all the time.
Sometimes they are disappointed that the gun is not worth more, sometimes they are shocked to learn that grand-dad's beat up old first gen. Colt SAA or 1914 dated 1911 is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
I have sent people to larger dealers when they walked in with rare Luger's worth thousands, and I have arranged a quick sale to a collector when a mint W.W.I Colt was more valuable than I could afford to buy.
Honest people only fall for these "buy-back" schemes ("buy-back"? When did the State own the gun previously?) because the Gov. Org. or "charity" organizing them can afford to purchase massive advertising to promote them.
Left to their own it simply does not occur to them to seek out a dealer and sell the guns, until they need the money to handle a crises, or they inherit them. Then far too often they get ripped of by a "Pawn Shop" who gives them ¢20 on the dollar.
Give me the sort of free advertising the Gov. Org. has access to and I will take far more guns "off the streets" at fair prices!
Of course, when I buy a gun the seller has to provide current ID, I make a record of where it came from, and the gun will not disappear into a smelter.
So I would not be buying guns from criminals, which does cut down on the number of guns I would be offered.
Just as a public service I will tell you what dealers pay for used guns.
Licensed gun dealers usually pay 50%-60% of retail value.
Pawn shops pay 10%-20% of retail on pawn, 20%-35% to buy.
Unlicensed "dealers" pay similar to pawn shops, but are even more willing to take advantage of anyone who does not realize what they have. They are "not really in business" and have no concern at all for repeat business, so BEWARE.
Licensed gun dealers will usually sell a gun on consignment for 15%-20% of the retail sale price.
Your library MIGHT have a copy of the "Blue Book of Gun Values".
If they don't they can be bought at gun shops and on-line.
Evaluating a guns condition accurately can be tricky for a novice, even experienced dealers occasionally make expensive mistakes.
Sellers always see every gun as "Mint", the broken stock and missing magazine are minor points to them.
Dealers usually notice the SS# scratched into the side of the action, and want to take off points for the missing rear sight.
Thus a little dickering usually follows, but if both are honest a deal can usually be made.
But even a novice will get better advice from a reference book than from a liberal gun grabber looking to advance their cause.
My site is full of guns I have "taken off the street", so if you know some one tempted by a stupid "buy back" send them to me! ;-)
http://www.specialinterestarms.com
Try "Theft" or "Virtual Confiscation"!
They often get a few VERY valuable guns, for a pittance, or even a coupon for some Chinese sneakers that will not last a week.
For some reason I keep thinking that the Police Chief and his cronies pick out the good guns for themselves and destroy the crap.
Donate it to you local Scout Troop, Future Farmers of America, or 4H, and take a $50 tax write-off next year.
Next question?
That is common, and has been proven on more than one occasion!
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