Sigh. In the first place, most of the guns turned in during programs like this are probably not even operable without repair, and second, the people who would actually turn them in are not the type "who [would] choose to use it to harm others or commit a crime".
Obviously the whole thing is a farce but there is a serious aspect: are the weapons checked for connection to crimes i.e. is ballistics testing conducted? Sorry to be cynical but I can’t help thinking that some family members wouldn’t be above turning in Junior’s cheap pistol after it had been used in the commission of a crime.
What better way to dispose of evidence than to give it to the police who will scrap it, even if the disposer doesn’t know it may be ebidence?