By Larry Keane

New York City has a violent crime problem and accidental Mayor Bill de Blasio is shuffling deck chairs in attempts to address it. After proposing to cut $1 billion from New York City’s law enforcement budget just as crime skyrocketed, he’s throwing taxpayer money at failed policies.

That includes gun buyback programs that don’t reduce violent crime and waste money. Worse, they give a false impression to the public that something effective is being done to reduce the criminal misuse of illegally possessed firearms.

Criminals Taking to the Streets

New York’s crime problem started much earlier, but was literally set on fire with the coronavirus response. New York was quick to release criminals from prisons. The result? In one instance, more than 1,500 criminals were back on the streets. Many were re-arrested for committing more crimes.

nationwide riots
(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Add to that the rising violence from riots and looting and the city has seen some of the worst violent crime surges. The violence was exemplified when a father was gunned down in broad daylight while walking in a crosswalk hand-in-hand with his seven-year-old daughter.

Mayor de Blasio watched it all and heard the “defund the police” cries. He cut a billion dollars from the budget of the men and women risking their lives to keep the cities safe. “I’m excited to say we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution,” the mayor said while announcing the cuts. Now, he wasting what’s left.

Brooklyn hosted a gun “buyback” event. Men and women could trade in their firearms and receive $25 bank cards for rifles and shotguns and $200 per each handgun or so-called “assault rifle.” This was the first buyback held in Brooklyn since 2016, when 60 firearms were recovered. This year’s event netted 33 guns.

Bill de Blasio
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Leaving police departments without necessary resources to address violent crime leads to unserious and ineffective attempts, like “buybacks.” Studies show they fail in their goal and criminals are largely not the ones participating.

A significant majority of law enforcement officials rate them as ineffective in reducing violent crime. On gun buybacks one researcher, Scott W. Phillips, an associate professor of criminal justice, put it bluntly. “Does it work?… No. Should they keep doing it? I wouldn’t waste my time.”

If Mayor de Blasio needs more feedback he can look to the Obama Administration, which concluded buyback programs are ineffective in its National Institute of Justice memo.

Window Dressing

The simple reason these don’t work is criminals aren’t turning in their guns. The guns that are turned in are broken or in disrepair from years of neglect and those that are collected are never tested against any ballistics databases to verify if they were used in a crime.

joe biden mask
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

This playing fast and loose with taxpayer money isn’t limited to mayors tanking in their own cities. Democratic nominee Joe Biden embraced a national mandatory gun buyback program as part of their antigun platform. Together with Mayor de Blasio, these unserious officials continue to bandage over serious issues and push gun control policies that only infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

The firearm industry has Real Solutions that work with law enforcement. These initiatives have proven successful at keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals and reducing unintentional firearm accidents. These are initiatives such as Don’t Lie for the Other Guy , Operation Secure Store and Project ChildSafe that are working. The same can’t be said for the “buyback” window dressing that doesn’t address the problem of crime.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

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71 COMMENTS

    • Only half of eligible voters vote. That half break down about evenly Democrat and Republican.
      So roughly 24% for each party. There is 1-2% in the middle that swing back and forth and decide the election. So the government in any area is selected by the 1-2% who not only show up but also actually make a decision about who to vote .

      Why would you think it just that 1%-2% of the eligible electorate decide the fate of the remaining 98%+? Democracy is the 2nd worst idea mankind has ever had.

    • Yeah let them buy back the home owners guns. Then Antifa and BLM members can come in, rape their wives and daughters and then kill off the family and the democrats can pretend it never happened. Hopefully they will get to democrats houses first and the Republicans can vote in a good government that actually cares about the people and not turning this country communist.

    • Yup, in NJ air rifles and bb guns are treated like real firearms and you have to do a 4473 and background check to purchase them.

        • What Martin says is true. I’m a resident of the Garbage State who’s in the know.
          The only way to get around that statute is to own or purchase one BEFORE you become a resident of NJ. According to the law you will need a 4473 and FID to purchase a firearm – yes, a Sheridan or BB rifle is a “firearm” in NJ – and it will be on record with the State Police … HOWEVER, if you own gunms before relocating to NJ you are not compelled or required to register those weapons as you would a newly-purchased one.
          The trick is to fly under the radar and never, EVER admit to the property you owned in the first place.
          If you get caught using a BB or pellet rifle on varmints by some Karen, even if its on your own property, you can be prosecuted.
          If you’re a gun-owning resident of NJ who brought firearms in from another state, never, ever trust your neighbors and keep it quiet.

      • In this state a prohibited person cannot own a air rifle if it exceeds 620 fps and has a rifled barrel, also any BlackPowder firegunm is considered a firegunm also. For those of you that think a black powder firearmn is okay to have if your prohibited best check your States laws. It’s easy enough getting in trouble the way it is.

        • “No license required in NJ for a flamethrower.”

          Yet… 🙁

  7. I feel like this is just a way to bait stupid people will “illegally obtained” firearms. Cuz that shit would never fly in America. We’d rather die fighting than let you, the government, try to seize assets for a failure to comply.

    Come and take them.

  10. Guns don’t kill People! People kill People! More people are killed with Blunt objects and knives than guns. You going to take away or buy back the Hammers, Baseball Bats, Bricks, Rocks? More people are killed with them than Guns!Look at statistics. Gun Free Cities have most of shootings. All of them are Democrat Controled Cities. Being Gun Free no body can shoot back! Chicago! Chicago is a gun free City. They do not have one Gun Store in whole City. More people shot there everyday than most wars.

    • No, more people are killed with blunt objects than long guns (including scary black rifles) . But a majority of murders in the US are done with firearms, overwhelmingly handguns.

    • Also those that never renewed their pistol permits after 2018 (prior to SAFE act there was no expiration date then it changed to 5 years). But yeah stolen guns, murder weapons, junk, and misc family turn ins.

  14. One good thing about all these liberal run cities is they may become a magnet for the homeless and criminal element…..
    That theoretically could keep them out of OUR cities….
    So…. have at it Jew York…weez donts care-a n e mo

    • Typically there is a police presence to take custody of the firearms and ensure everything is logged. But cant speak for NYC especially this year.

  16. Rest assured…They’ll set up close by voter registration booths for idiots laying their guns at the feet of de blasio. Lowlife democRats are seeking useful idiots to cancel your vote to reelect the POTUS. When you see ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS et al asking for people to register to vote they are not talking about voters registering to reelect President Donald John Trump.
    After concocting lies and schemes for 4 years to overthrown a duly elected POTUS these deranged marxist democRats will say and do anything they can to screw you out of your vote. From nasty nice reminders to register to vote to threats of violence if things don’t go their way. Violence may sound good on paper but the reality is America is not going to roll over and play dead for people who have sht for brains. That’s chiseled.

    TRUMP/PENCE 2020.

  17. I would like to announce the Gadsden Flag gun buy back program. I will double any offer made de Blasio. There is a caveat. I will more selective about what I buy. If I decline to purchase your firearm you may still sell it to the idiots that run New York Shitty.

  18. 33 guns?!? Seriously? That is it. That might reduce an hour of violence?

    It is hard to take a buyback seriously when any gun collection worth bragging about has multiples of the quantity.

    • Optimistic, gun collection or firearms battery? I have a friend that “collects” Colt SAAs. He owns 300+. I have a firearms battery. Tool box, if you will. Each tool has a job.

  19. Given the current shortages of pistols and semiautomatic rifles only a fool would take a $200 gift card for one.

  20. If government is buying back guns from gangsters, are they inadvertently admitting that it was them who sold it to criminals in the first place?

  22. Hell, if I was in charge, I’d do it. Face it, its someone else’s money and I might get something really good and valuable for nothing. You know damn well that goes on. The actual results of the buyback are inconsequential. Most people pay no attention to those details, it’s the PERCEPTION. They see the effort and conflate that with positive results, which as anyone with a decently functioning brain recognizes as total malarkey.

  23. Proof positive NY officials have no concept of economics. No one is going to turn in a gun that is worth 10x the offer on the black market. They will likely net a few Lorcins, Jennings, Ravens and Rohms though.

    • Probably closer to 1.5-3X but yes only junk and feel good decisions with the occasional homemade troll (sometimes hilarious)

  24. I just heard on the news,(if it is true), that the 100 millions dollars the nyc’s bloomburger put up in Florida was to make a 200 million dollar fund to pay off the fees that were to be restitution for the crimes of felons committed. Once paid off, and their sentence has been served, they are eligible to vote. What a way to buy an election…..

    • I’d like to see an IRS decision that declares these funds as taxable income to the recipients. Same with the bail for rioters funds.

    • Looks like a female officer to me. Exactly the type I want to have next to me if I had to wrestle with a violent mob. But that’s my sexism talking, got to keep with the program. In robotic voice – Women are just as good as men at everything and much better at most things.

  26. De Blasio isn’t really trying to do anything about Gun violence. These gun control zealots are counting on the public’s gullibility that we won’t recognize their true agenda. Can we all say it? Subjugation.

  27. When you do a gun buyback, don’t you have to complete a bill of sale or relinquishment of ownership identifying both parties?

  28. Man, if I were in New York, I know just what I’d do if I had some Hi Points, Jennings, and Bryco’s laying around!

    • Once you add in mandatory training and processing fees that 150ish hipoint will cost you 350-500 outside of NYC. Just another reason why this program accomplishing anything is logistically impossible.

  30. I wonder how many current and ex law enforcement are going to surrender their high capacity magazines and “assault rifles” me 5 round max for NYC LEO 30 round magazine. We cannot own AR-15 or Ak-47 and we know these are the horrible assault weapons.
    So my question is if only law enforcement can own these “assault weapons” in NYC how are criminals getting them.

  31. New York State Senate Passes The Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act, The Nation’s Toughest Ghost Gun Law
    You will need a gunsmith license to posses a 80 percent.
    Defines a “ghost gun” as any firearm, rifle, or shotgun that isn’t serialized and registered in accordance with either state or federal law
    Prohibits the possession of ghost guns by anyone but a licensed gunsmith
    Prohibits the sale of ghost guns entirely
    Prohibits the manufacture or assembly of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun by anyone other than a licensed gunsmith
    Requires New York gunsmiths to serialize all firearms, rifles, shotguns, or unfinished frames or receivers they manufacture or assemble, and to register any such gun, frame or receiver that isn’t otherwise covered by federal serialization law with the Division of State Police

  33. Answer this Question How much did the last buy back reduce violent crime ? How many crimes were committed with so called assault weapons were committed ? Bet the answer to both is 0% if they answer truthfully !

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