Every gun off the street means one less tragedy
The Bakersfield Californian | Saturday, Jun 17 2006 8:50 PM
Gun buyback programs have a long and inconclusive history, except to those at the extremes of the debate.
Some gun advocates are convinced buybacks have no effect whatsoever -- or worse, a negative effect. Those at the opposite end of the conversation, including many in law enforcement, believe that simple, sustained subtraction reduces crime over time.
Jack Smith Jr. likes to think of himself as somewhere in the middle. He's not out to change the world, not out to irritate the NRA, not out to mess with anyone's Second Amendment rights. He's just sick of all the senseless death.
"One gun, voluntarily out of the hands of someone who doesn't want it anymore, would make it all worthwhile," he says. "One gun."
He's hoping for more than one gun, of course, but he'll take what he can get -- if and when he's able to organize what he believes is Bakersfield's first gun buyback event.
Where, when and orchestrated by whom are just three of the questions he still needs to answer. But then Smith, working in concert with a group of Bakersfield ministers and community organizations such as Stop the Violence and Mothers Against Senseless Killing, only pitched the idea to top brass at the Bakersfield Police Department last Thursday night.
"We have some talking to do," he says, "but I feel like I have their blessing." He needs it: Without the BPD's cooperation, it can't happen.
BPD spokesman Ryan Paslay confirms the subject is at least worthy of consideration.
Police Chief Bill Rector "is definitely not opposed by any means," Paslay says. "We don't want to jump out there and make promises without researching things, but conceptually it's a great idea."
Gun buybacks, around since at least the mid-'80s, have typically paid $50 per gun (and sometimes $75 per automatic weapon).
But the cash-for-guns model has some drawbacks -- the money can just be reinvested in better guns, for example. That's why some buyback programs around the country have switched to a voucher system, issuing not cash but certificates redeemable for as much as $200 in goods and services.
Trial and error in cities like Boston and Indianapolis, where such events have produced measurable results, have helped organizers refine their procedures.
Guns must be operational -- no garbage accepted. Weapons deemed stolen are returned to their owners, and the rest eventually come back to life as car parts or steel girders.
And here's a key provision: no questions asked. Smith knows that's vital to success because local teens have told him so.
Smith says he can pull off the buyback without asking for public funds. He's looking for sponsors, private contributions, raffle-prize donations, whatever.
"It's poetic, really," he says. "The department store, the grocery store, whatever it is, kicks in to help us. Maybe one of the guns they help us take off the street is the gun that might have been used in an armed robbery of their store. They help the community and they help themselves."
Gun buyback critics say the programs don't make much of an impact because even the most successful ones typically represent only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of firearms now in private hands.
Smith shrugs at that talk. "Tell that to a victim's family member," he says. "One gun can cause so much misery. We've had so many murders recently, and there would have more murders if the shooter would have had a better aim."
In fact, he says, the one-gun-at-a-time argument trumps all others when you weigh the pass-along potential of a single firearm.
"You can just look at them as they come in and subtract a tragedy," Smith says. "Here's a gun that will never be used in a homicide. Here's a gun that will never be used in an armed robbery. Here's a gun that will never be used in a suicide. Here's a gun that will never go off accidentally and hurt somebody."
Smith is realistic. He knows a gun buyback isn't the most effective solution in stopping crime -- just one worthwhile component in a broader solution.
You do what you can, Smith says, and you start with approaches that offer the biggest potential for results, whether those results are symbolic or statistically indisputable. Smith is aiming for both.
Robert Price's column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at 395-7399 or rprice@bakersfield.com.
It is very powerful to see the guns in person. I am so glad they are off our streets and out of circulation. The gun issue is complex and involves both supply and demand. It is so great that over 150 people decided that a weapon was not the answer. A gun in your home is more than 45 times more likely to be used against you or in an accident or suicide than in self defense. (NE Journal of Medicine.)
Good work and Good Luck!
Posted by: Katherine | Monday, June 19, 2006 at 05:50 PM