Posted on 07/21/2012 10:48:54 AM PDT by marktwain
With gang violence on the increase in Portland, nonprofit Ceasefire Oregon is increasing the incentive for people willing to turn in unwanted guns at its Aug. 18 gun turn-in.
Each workable gun given to authorities at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum parking lot — no questions asked — will net a $75 Fred Meyer gift certificate.
The 2012 Gun Turn-In is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18 at the parking lot on the north side of Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Last year’s event brought in 261 guns, up from 142 in 2010 but a decline from the 424 turned in at the 2008 event. During the 17 years of gun turn-ins, 7,564 guns have been handed in and destroyed.
Money for the gift certificates comes from a city of Portland grant, which is augmented by private donations.
Penny Okamoto, executive director of Ceasefire Oregon, says organizers of the event, which include the Portland Police Bureau, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement and Ceasefire, don’t anticipate gang members turning over their weapons. But some of the guns that get turned in might have found their way to people committing violent crimes.
“Most of the time it’s people who have weapons in their home and they’re worried,” Okamoto says of those who hand in guns.
Whatever it takes
Critics of the annual event in the past have lined up outside the police bureau lines with signs offering money to people who will sell their guns privately rather than turn them in for destruction. Pro-gun advocates have said that criminals don’t turn in their guns.
Okamoto says many people have unwanted guns around their home but don’t want to sell them privately because they don’t know how they might be used.
“People say it’s a feel good measure, but it’s a great way for someone to get a gun off the street and out of their house, and to know it’s never going to be used again,” she says.
In Chicago, a recent gun buyback gathered 5,500 guns were collected and owners were rewarded with $100 gift cards. Sixty of the guns were reportedly turned in by a pro-gun organization which claimed the more than $6,000 in compensation would go toward buying ammunition to be used at a youth gun camp.
Okamoto says she has no concerns about people turning in cheap, unwanted guns for cash at Portland’s turn-in.
“It’s just like anything else,” she says. “You’re going to get some people who try to game the system. If we get a gun out of a home with a curious kid, I’m fine. Whatever it takes.”
I am surprised that there are no enterprising patriots in Portland looking to save valuable and useful items from being destroyed by the local "progressives".
More unarmed decent citizens...good thinks the criminal mind! Look for crime to increase, not decrease. Daaaah!
A tool is a tool, after all.
/johnny
criminals were turning in their guns here...getting cash for them...then buying better guns. How stupid is our city??
Lansing Michigan mayor Virg Benero wants a gun buy back program to keep the gang bangers to stop killing each other. Fortunately he has considerable opposition.
http://www.wlns.com/story/18994574/some-hesitation-for-gun-buyback-program
If he really wants it, he should put up the money himself.
Related story from about a month ago. Made me smile. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2904875/posts
I have a workable clothes pen gun. Can I get $75 for it?
A screwdriver turn in will never happen. Trayvon was caught with a screwdriver in his backpack filled with women’s jewelry and weed, don’cha know.
If I was a criminal, I’d be scouting out who turned in guns and follow them back to their unarmed houses. Of course, a criminal would never think to do that, right?
Who is Fred Meyer of Fred Meyer gift certificate fame? How is he being reimbursed for the gift certificates? I am sure he is since the press did not touot his generosity in giving “Fred Meyer gift certificate.” Did freddy bid on the job or is he a friend of someone??
Criminals getting paid to destroy evidence of guns used in crimes.
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