Posted on 12/05/2008 6:50:57 AM PST by CodeToad
Community leaders yesterday announced a gun buy back program that offers $50 to anyone who turns in a gun — “no questions asked.”
Organized by black community leader Alvertis Simmons, the program attempts to remove guns from the streets to curb future violence. On Dec. 6, from noon-3 p.m., gun owners will be able to turn in their guns — working or not — for $50 per gun. The rally will take place at City Park in front of the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue. The program has been approved by the Denver Police Department, but organizers promise that no questions will be asked.
“We’re tired of our kids dying, we’re tired of our community being shed with blood — do something, shut up, stop complaining,” said Simmons at a news conference yesterday in front of the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. in City Park. “We voted, now we’ve got to get those guns out of the hands of all these criminals.”
Joined by three other black community leaders, Simmons and the group spoke of the empowerment they feel by the election of President-elect Barack Obama. But they said the next step for the black community is to take specific action in individual communities.
“We’ve got a problem in our community. We are certainly trying to keep pace with our President-elect … but we cannot have unity and have violence living together in our community,” said Rev. Reginald Holmes, pastor of New Covenant Christian Church in Denver. “So we, particularly as African Americans, we must really begin to work in our community, and one of the first things we can affect is this whole area of illegal and illicit weapons in our community that are not being used for any other purpose than to perpetuate crime.”
Following Obama’s election, gun sales in Colorado soared as owners attempted to stock up out of suspicions that the new president would work to ban guns on the federal level. Holmes said he believes the hysteria is based on fear.
“We think that it’s fear and people overreacting, but in no way does Sen. Obama intend to take anybody’s guns away,” he said. “What we’re talking about are the Saturday night specials and the illegal and illicit use of the guns, not to defend, but to kill, maim and hurt.”
The group said the issue is not about trying to ban guns — Holmes said he himself is a gun owner. They said it is simply an attempt to get guns out of the hands of people who have no business owning one in the first place. And perhaps to encourage women and other family members to proactively remove the guns from their homes by turning them in at the rally on Dec. 6, organizers said.
Organizers are currently raising money themselves for the buy back program, but are asking for some in the business community to step up and match financial donations. A record of all the guns taken will be kept, and all the guns will be destroyed by the Denver Police Department, Simmons said.
Finances will be controlled by the FACE IT advocacy group through Holmes’ church. Donations can be made by calling 303-907-1337, or by sending a check to 825 Ivanhoe Street in Denver.
“On Dec. 6th, just drop the gun in the box, get your $50 and go on with your business,” said Simmons.
Gun Buy Back Rally:
WHAT: Turn in a gun, get $50
WHEN: Dec. 6th, noon-3 p.m.
WHERE: City Park, 17th and Esplanade
DONATIONS: 303-907-1337, or 825 Ivanhoe St. in Denver
We could offer a $500 per ear as proof to collect the bounty. But if we did the gangbangers would all do the VanGogh bit.
Actually, I meant “sick” as a compliment, as in a sick sense of humor, of which I am often accused of having.
Okay. Gotcha!
;^)
That’s about it... Yep.
What are Saturday Night Specials? The term is loosely used to describe an inexpensive handgun, usually made from pot metal and chambered in a lower caliber. The significance of his statement is the affordability of this type of gun quite often makes it the only self-defense option for the poor. Is he saying that we disarm the poor first?
Buying something back implies the seller is doing a favor for the buyer, as when a jeweler offers to buy back an engagement ring if things don't work out.
Did any member of the group organizing this event sell the guns initially?
Even better, did all the people who will be turning in a firearm to collect their $50 actually buy it?
Related to the last question, will the police check the serial numbers on all the guns turned in against a list of stolen weapons, or would that be too much work?
Of course, no self-respecting reporter could be expected to ask these kinds of questions. Just write the story, then a follow-up with a photo of a big stack of guns.
Well they could just start snitching . That would be more productive than any Buy Back Program
I announced this as a gun buy program. I mean $50? “Hey, kid, I’ll give you $100 for that piece!” See what I mean.
It seems to me that this is a gun show by legal definition and requires NICS checks for all purchases.
Seller's remorse for having sold them in tne first place?
Don't they usually do this sort of thing at City Hall? They must have figured out where the problem lies...
Colorado statute 12-26.1-106 states:
(3) “Gun show” means the entire premises provided for an event or function, including but not limited to parking areas for the event or function, that is sponsored to facilitate, in whole or in part, the purchase, sale, offer for sale, or collection of firearms at which:
(a) twenty-five or more firearms are offered or exhibited for sale, transfer, or exchange; or
(b) not less than three gun show vendors exhibit, sell, offer for sale, transfer, or exchange firearms.
(4) “Gun show promoter” means a person who organizes or operates a gun show.
(5) “Gun show vendor” means any person who exhibits, sells, offers for sale, transfers, or exchanges, any firearm at a gun show, regardless of whether the person arranges with a gun show promoter for a fixed location from which to exhibit, sell, offer for sale, transfer, or exchange any firearm.
This activist group is a gun show under Colorado law.
The statutes continue:
12-26.1-101. Background checks at gun shows - penalty.
(1) Before a gun show vendor transfers or attempts to transfer a firearm at a gun show, he or she shall:
(a) require that a background check, in accordance with section 24-33.5-424, C.R.S., be conducted of the prospective transferee; and
(b) obtain approval of a transfer from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation after a background check has been requested by a licensed gun dealer, in accordance with section 24-33.5-424, C.R.S.
(2) A gun show promoter shall arrange for the services of one or more licensed gun dealers on the premises of the gun show to obtain the background checks required by this article.
(3) If any part of a firearm transaction takes place at a gun show, no firearm shall be transferred unless a background check has been obtained by a licensed gun dealer.
(4) Any person violating the provisions of this section commits a class 1 misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided in section 18-1.3-501, C.R.S.
Don't worry; I'm sure that any quality pieces will end up in a cop's private collection or a local gunshop.
Hey, can anybody do this? What an awesome idea!
I put a small ad in the paper advertising a gun buyback. I’ll, I mean my organization, will pay anybody $50 to turn in their gun.
All to keep mean guns off the street and out of the hands of children!
I LIKE it.
Let's form an organization.
Citizens Responding Against Street Shootings (CRASS), and start our OWN buy-back programs in all 50 states.
We will simply destroy the junk guns, but KEEP the good ones (and there are always a FEW good ones turned in by dumb-a$$es).
We'll have awesome(er) gun collections in NO TIME.
I have a bunch of pipe and nails in my garage - think they would be willing to pay $50 for each section of pipe and nail set I put together? Could probably crank out dozens in time?
LOL! Maybe we could also go international and buyback all the AKs on the streets in the Mideast. :)
I am assuming you are being charitable here as you would still have to shell out a couple hundred more bucks...
Nope. Bought my AR 15 on sale for that amount.
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