Am I doing right?

[wannabeagunsmith]

I have posted two comments on a video posted by a police dept. of a gun buyback program they have led. The comments go as follows :

(THEM):While we realize there will always be critics for everything we do, we’d like to make a couple of points. First, no tax money was used to carry out this program. The gift cards were purchased using seizure funds (what we confiscate from drug dealers, etc.) not tax payer money. The second point is that this program took 324 guns off the street that could have been potentially used for criminal activity- including replica guns (there were restrictions on who could turn them in and how many).

(ME): off the street? Weren't they safe in lawful citizen's houses? (I meant to say law-abiding, oops)

(THEM): guns are often targeted in residential burglaries - which then can be used for illegal activity.

(ME):I know what you are getting at, but if a robber wants to steal someone's guns, how are they going to get past a gun-weilding homeowner? If they (the homeowner) are on vacation they are most often always locked away in a safe.

Have my answers been correct as far as defending my point, and should I include anything else? It is really simple logic.... He will most likely reply soon, so I will keep you all posted. Here is a link to the video (remove the space in the www.)

http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Pg2rdiF2c&lc=YY-FhX7TaPIG4FUuSqrPE2jk7E-pIsZ1zWBh911s-0w&feature=inbox

 

[Bovice]

the gun wielding homeowner isn't always home, and a safe can be broken into given enough time. It doesn't take a professional safe cracker to open a safe if you have enough time. You need an alarm system, that way all of your neighbors will know something is up and if it's monitored, the police will at least be notified automatically. Home security is achieved in layers.

I'm not disagreeing with you, that's just the truth.

 

[firesky101]

Difficult to change opinion. They likely discussed the issue at length before announcing. You are not wrong, just talking to a wall. You need to talk to your legislators and convince them it is a waste of time for the pd.

 

[MtnCreek]

It is really simple logic....

You’re not married, are you? Some arguments cannot be won with logic.

 

[wannabeagunsmith]

You’re not married, are you? Some arguments cannot be won with logic.

HAha no, I am not married lol but frequently get into arguments that " cannot be won with logic"..

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

While you're not completely correct, you're in no way too far outa line with your personal point of view.

I don't think I've known any of the firearms burglaries of which I'm aware, to have taken place while the owner was home so at least in my experience getting past a gun owner to steal his guns has not been an issue.

Of the firearms thefts that I'm aware of - several have either gotten into the safes present or simply stolen the entire safe to deal with elsewhere.

Their use of the phrase "off the streets" was a good point for you to make but their use of the words "can" and "potentially" leaves them a lot of wiggle room.

Fortunately they do not use the same connective potentiality with cars to DUI/wrongful death, medicine cabinets to the illegal drug trade etc...

I should think your exchange would at least cause them to better hone their public presentation of the program and for that they are doing well to discuss it with you and you're doing well to remain a concerned citizen. Just have a care to not present as a "cold dead fingers" type.

 

[GoWolfpack]

Better to make your point as concisely as possible and bow out of the discussion. Just like here, protracted arguments rarely do anything to prove a point and mostly just make the participants feel smug.

 

[TheDriver]

Don't no-questions-asked gun buybacks create a market (increase demand) for stolen guns? What happens when demand goes up?

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Don't no-questions-asked gun buybacks create a market (increase demand) for stolen guns? What happens when demand goes up?

Well now, there's an interesting and pertinent question that I've never heard asked.

 

[Panzercat]

Of note, how do these ninja burglers know there's a gun in the house to begin with? Where is this statistic? I would start calling BS on that point alone.

 

[The Mayor]

I take exception to the 'no tax dollars' part, any money the department takes in could be used to buy more equipment or hire more personnel. Or it could be used to offset their budgit and lower our tax bill.
Any time the government spends, it affects the taxes.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

""Of note, how do these ninja burglers know there's a gun in the house to begin with? ""

A guy shows off his bang sticks or brags about his ability to either defend hearth and home and/or shoot gnats at 100 meters, then the fella he brags/shows off to tells a guy who tells a guy and so on.

Or maybe he just shows off pictures of his racks of guns on the internet...

 

[Owen Sparks]

Hasn't it been proven that more guns equal less crime? Therefore by logical extention shouldn't the police be trying to get more guns "on the street" to deter crime?
After all... It's for the children!

 

[wannabeagunsmith]

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it!

 

[TX1911fan]

#1, Panzercat's point. #2, with this guy's logic, the PD should be buying "back" cars, knives, bats, bows and arrows and all sorts of other things that can be stolen and used in crimes. Just because a gun is in the home does not mean it will be stolen, and just because the PD buys it "back" doesn't mean it won't end up being used in a crime anyway. Lots of stuff makes its way out of a PD evidence locker and onto the street.

I put "back" in quotes because the PD didn't sell the gun in the first place, so how can they buy it back?

 

[FROGO207]

I learned a long time ago that logic rarely wins an argument where the other participant uses emotions to frame their point. Mostly they will not sway from their skewed beliefs so I lay out the facts and let them deal with it when they can process it without my further involvement. This will sometimes work but not all that often. The no questions buyback creating a market for stolen guns is a good point for them to think about IMHO. Good thought.

 

[armoredman]

It's not a "buy back" as they cannot buy back property that they never legally owned. It's a partially compensated voluntary confiscation. A friend used to have a US Revolver Co .32 in pieces waiting for such an event...never happened in Tucson while I was there.

 

[Hardtarget]

I've got a piece of junk that I MAY do next time Metro tries this.

What I wonder about is what happens to these guns. Metro is not allowed to melt or otherwise destroy confiscated guns. They have been whin-nniing-g-g about this for some time. Seems they've run out of storage space. Too bad. Start selling to gun shops or to the honest citizens. If the attitude is just "get them off the street" ...well....selling would just make their heads explode! Too bad.

Mark

 

[oneounceload]

Keeping bad guys locked away instead of using catch and release would cut down on crime a lot

 

[hso]

It is a myth that most guns used in crimes are stolen from residences so the idea that they're preventing crime by getting people to bring guns from home is false.

 

[c1ogden]

The gift cards were purchased using seizure funds (what we confiscate from drug dealers, etc.) not tax payer money.

Another line of BS. Seizure funds ARE taxpayer money. It didn't come from them but it does belong to them. And it IS the same as spending tax money because, were it not wasted on vote buying publicity stunts like this one, it would have been used to offset (lower) future taxes.

 

[ATBackPackin]

These things are a JOKE. Firstly, I would like to know how many illegal guns or guns used in a crime have been taken "off the streets" with these voluntary confiscations??? Secondly, do you really think a criminal is going to turn in his/her gun for a lousy fifty dollar gift card to target??? Or even better, an "assault weapon" for $100???

A JOKE. All they do is rip of widows who do not know what to do with their late husbands guns. Or either an old junk gun that you cannot sell for fifty dollars.

Actually I take that back, they are not a joke. They are going perfectly according to the plan. GET LEGAL GUNS OFF THE STREET.

 

[exavid]

There have been buy backs in Oregon where people were on the sidewalk checking out the guns going in and buying them for a bit more than the cops were paying. It's legal here for a resident to sell to another resident with no background check. The article I read said that some pretty nice guns were junked for $50. Makes me wonder what I could have gotten for $55.

 

[Millwright]

FWIW,

A "gun safe" is safe only so long as it remains concealed from casual observaton. >MW

 

[NavyLCDR]

Left my comment:

I would think that a better use of resources would be to remove criminals from the streets rather than inanimate objects. Your program took 324 guns off the street that could have been used by law abiding citizens to defend themselves from criminal attacks. Here's an idea...take those 324 guns and donate to an FFL to transfer to law abiding citizens for self-defense and volunteer your time to teach them safe firearm handling and self-defense techniques. Guns don't commit crimes, criminals do.