Residents trade guns for groceries at San Fernando Valley gun buyback event

[SecularMotion]

MISSION HILLS >> An estimated several hundred San Fernando Valley area residents swapped guns for groceries Saturday in a Los Angeles Police Department program aimed at getting weapons off the city’s streets.

The gun buyback ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in a parking lot of the Facey Medical Group at 11333 Sepulveda Blvd. adjacent to the LAPD’s Mission Community Police Station in Mission Hills.

Those turning in guns received a $100 or $200 Ralph’s gift card. The $100 cards were distributed to people turning in pistols, rifles and shot guns and the $200 cards went to those turning in guns classified by the state as assault rifles.

http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20160507/residents-trade-guns-for-groceries-at-san-fernando-valley-gun-buyback-event

[beevul]

1. I wonder how many crime guns were 'laundered' . N/T

[DonP]

4. Shhhh, that upsets the control crowd

They like to think that all those turn ins are from gang members and have never been used in a shooting.

I was yelled at here a couple of years ago by the control guys, when I pointed out that "No Questions Asked" meant that they don't screen the guns by ballistics or by serial number for prior use in crimes. They just hand out the gift cards and dump them in a barrel.

No names, no addresses, just give them a gun, walk out with your gift card and you know it will be melted down in less than a week with great ceremony at Furnace #5 at the Inland Steel South Works. Maybe even used in a meaningful sculpture by a local anti gun artist.

(Unless of course a cop takes a liking to something like a 1st generation Colt, then it's likely to wind up in a sock drawer.)

And of course there is no record kept of who turned in the gun anyway, so even if they did it can't be traced back to the actual shooters. An easy way to get rid of a gun you just used to shoot up a rival gang, with no evidence to trace it back to you.

Of course if they start taking names and checking the turn ins, that's gonna dry up the PR value of the event the minute they announce they are taking names and checking serial numbers and ballistics.

Boy, did I get yelled at for harshing their mellow.

[beevul]

18. My bad.

I completely admit fault for noticing this under the second photo at the link in the OP:

Semi-automatic handguns that were collected during a City and LAPD gun buyback Saturday in Mission Hills. People drove into the parking lot where the police took possession of the guns with no questions asked.

[scscholar]

2. Going door to door...

would be cheaper and more effective.

[sarisataka]

5. Something like-

*knock knock*
"Yes"
"We are collecting unwanted guns. Do you have any?"
"Sure, here are a couple I've been meaning to get rid of. Do you still give out gift cards?"
"No, we go door to door for convenience instead."
"Oh, ok. Well thanks for taking them off my hands"
"NO, thank you; the streets are safer now that these are not sitting unused in your closet. 'Bye"

[linuxman]

6. Will you be doing it?

Will the ones doing it be armed?

If so, you aren't anti gun. You're very pro gun. You just happen to like the idea of a .government monopoly on it.

How would this go in your head, anyway?

Excuse me, are there guns here?

No.

Okay. Thank you for your time.

[scscholar]

7. You didn't describe a real search...

and you know it.

[linuxman]

8. Why would my house be searched?

5th ammendment.

Typical grabber mentality. It's never one right the ban-happy crew oppose.

"To save the village, we had to destroy it ".

So, would you bravely volunteer for this intrepid search team, or rely on others to enforce your fantasy? You never answered.

[virginia mountainman]

10. What about the people that say:

F- Off??

And simply laugh in the "door to door" people face? Once the word gets out in the community that "guns are being taken" you very rapidly will find a couple out of every hundred more than willing to "make a stand". It's very easy to set up an ambush in your own home...

I have a feeling you will run out of people willing to go "door too door" rather quickly in most of the US, provided you can find some to do it in the first place..

[Kang Colby]

3. I support laws requiring local law enforcement to sell those firearms back to wholesalers..

like most PDs do with their duty weapons. If used guns are your thing, you can usually get a pretty good deal on LE trade-ins.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

9. I saw a documentary....

....in which a group of gun guys sat outside a gun buyback with cash.

They had an FFL guy with them, and sat at a foldable table with a sign saying that they would pay cash, not with gift cards.

They did not end up buying anything, most of the guns brought in were junk.

[Kang Colby]

11. That has happened here in my state as well.

The collectors just offer more than the buy back.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

12. Did you hear about the Sturmgewehr

in Connecticut?

The cops told her to find a collector for it.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/12/10/sturmgewehr-44-handed-in-to-police-buy-back/

If it was New Jersey, the gun would have disappeared.

[DonP]

14. We had something similar happen with a Thompson

A couple that lived next door to a woman I worked with was renovating an older home in a local suburb.

They tore out the back of a closet to make a hallway and found a 1928 Thompson, Cutts Compensator and all, in good shape (dry and heated storage) with a 50 round drum mag and 4 stick mags, along with some boxes of old .45 ACP walled up behind the plaster.

The ammo boxes were dated back to the late '30's.

Sadly, they "turned it over to the local police" for disposal instead of calling me to "help" them out.

Now it's either sitting in the Chief's closet or in the police armory, "just in case" they ever need the firepower. I'm pretty sure that it didn't find it's way to the chop saw or blast furnace #5 at Inland Steel.

[Kang Colby]

15. Nice. What a story.

I own an ATI STG-44 chambered in 22LR. I got it for like $300 from CDNN. It's a nice shooter.

I'm sure a real one would cost a fortune.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

16. 30 thousand or so.

[Eleanors38]

13. "Buyback:" You mean LAPD sold them in the first place?

[pablo_marmol]

17. Thanks for another post that undermines your own position, SecMo!!!

I heard about this story about three nights ago because I listen to KNX news radio on my drive home from work. (I work a 2nd shift.) So much fail in such a brief story. I did a websearch, and found the video that was broadcast on an L.A. "news" station. Check the link at end of post.

1) Citizen #1 with the goatee claims that "kids are smart" and can even get their way into safes to get at guns. LOL! If you're too stupid to choose a safe that is child-proof, the problem aint GUNZ. And if your kid finds a way to saw into your safe, then you've got issues more serious than GUNZ.

2) Citizen #2 talks about the hazards of "leaving gunz lying around" --- an obvious strawman, since NOBODY advocates doing that.

3) When I heard citizen #3 lie about "assault weapons" (again - listening on radio) I assumed it was another citizen getting air time. Nice strategy, news outlet! Have someone else lie for you, and you think you've got plausible deniability in spreading false information! Turns out citizen #3 was a cop falsely claiming that "assault weapons" -- semi-auto BY DEFINITION -- fire at a higher rate of speed than other gunz, and "hold more bullets".

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/05/07/lapd-hosts-two-gun-buyback-events/

EDITED TO ADD: Video also references assault rifles -- reinforcing the lie that "assault weapons" "spray bullets" and are the equivalent of bona-fide military rifles.