Buying back illusions

November 14, 8:07 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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Akron is having a gun "buyback," at least that's what they're calling it. But how you can buy back something you never owned in the first place is the least of things that don't make sense.

Each person who turns in a gun will be given a $100 gift card from Acme Fresh Markets for groceries or gas.

This is an anonymous program, so no one will be asked for personal information.

Cool. So you won't mind if I fence this stolen gun, or let you folks dispose of this murder weapon for me? No questions asked, right?

And looky here: The City of Akron has decided to pony up $20K. Times must be good for the urban economic powerhouse (do they still call it "The Rubber Capital of the World"?) if they can toss that kind of dough around. I mean, it's not like businesses have moved or closed, jobs have fled, tax revenues have withered, schools are closing under a $150 million deficit...

Councilman John Conti D-at large) wondered at the possibility of, instead of merely destroying the surrendered weapons, melting down the guns to make a piece of art, as he’s seen other police departments do.

“We actually talked about that, melting some down and making a plaque,” said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Larry Givens.

That's great, John and Larry. You're paying for your bright ideas out of your own pockets, right? Oh, I forget--times are flush--we have $20K surplus just lying around/burning a hole in our pockets that we can allocate for gun buybacks! Why not an art piece and a plaque? Heck, go all out: why not some "Jr. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety" badges for the kids at the unveiling ceremony (just make sure they're not the kind with those dangerous fastening pins on the back)?

Never mind that the feds decided over 7 years ago to halt such wasteful spending, citing "limited...effectiveness as a strategy to combat violent and gun-related crimes," and based on the recommendations of 80 members of Congress to terminate the program.

Never mind that, according to The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy research institute:

The Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based group of big-city police chiefs, evaluated buybacks in Boston, Seattle, St. Louis and other major cities and found they had no effect. In Seattle, researchers checked coroner's records and hospital admissions data for six months following a buyback and said it hadn't reduced gun violence at all.

Never mind that what is collected is old junk, turned in by people who aren't the problem. That's not the point. The point is, the politicians get to have another photo op, and perpetuate the illusion that they know what they're doing and are doing it--a fraud the media is happy to abet, because they don't know what the solution is either, but they do know they're afraid of guns.

Oh, but that's not the point, I'm sure some will say, citing the iconic old widow lady, whose dear departed husband left a gun in the closet she doesn't know what to do with.

Great. What better contribution could we make to her and to public safety than to create a financial incentive for her to pick up a gun she knows nothing about. Naturally she knows how to unload it, be it a revolver or semi-auto, and if the latter, she knows just removing the magazine doesn't mean there's not a round still in the chamber, right? And we're sure she knows to keep her finger off the trigger? And how to transport it in a car (or better yet, public transportation!) safely and legally?

I ask, because both newspaper accounts gave the Five Ws but seemed to leave out the H.

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