Gun control no joke

[SecularMotion]

Last edited Sat Jul 7, 2012, 04:23 PM - Edit history (1)

Mockery gets you nowhere.

Not if your aim is to change hearts and minds rather than draw battle lines.

Last weekend, members of a Downstate pro-gun group made that point pretty well when they drove up to Chicago and turned in about 60 rusted-out and broken guns in exchange for $6,200 in gift cards. This was their supposedly amusing way of ridiculing a gun trade-in program run by the Chicago Police to get dangerous firearms off the city’s streets.

The group, Guns Save Life, based in Champaign County, said they’d use the gift cards to buy ammunition and firearms for a youth program that teaches gun safety and marksmanship.

http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/13546548-474/editorial-gun-control-no-joke.html

[shadowrider]

1. It was open to anyone, no questions asked. What's the problem? n/t

[rfranklin]

2. Yep, the solution is for everyone to carry everywhere...

that's the ticket.

[shadowrider]

3. Strawman. I never said that.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. Repeat that enough, and you might come to believe someone actually said that...

[orpupilofnature57]

8. Yep ,in Texas ,Arizona & Florida ,Dumbest asshole states

Where brains are scarce and ignorance and racism are plentiful.

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. Yet "ignorant , racist" Houston's murder rate is half that of "gun safe" Chicago. Care to explain?

[rfranklin]

22. Murders in Houston up 27 percent so far this year

Houston crime including murder, robbery, burglary and auto theft rose during the first three months of the year, counter to a dramatic reduction in violent crime in recent years, police statistics reveal.

From January through March, five of the seven major crime categories increased compared to the same period in 2011, according to Houston Police Department statistics released Thursday.


http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Murders-in-Houston-up-27-percent-so-far-this-year-3495666.php

[friendly_iconoclast]

24. Sad- but not as sad as Chicago, which has had a 36-38 percent increase in murders so far this year:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-26/news/chi-ceasefire-illinois-will-work-with-chicago-cops-to-stem-violence-in-ogden-grand-crossing-districts-20120626_1_gun-violence-police-officers-tio-hardiman

The first-ever partnership between CeaseFire and the Chicago Police Department was first announced after a violent Memorial Day weekend that saw about 40 people shot, 10 of them fatally. So far this year, homicides are up 38 percent across the city and shootings up 12 percent.

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2012/Garry-McCarthy-Chicagos-Rise-in-Murders-and-the-Pot-Solution/

Through the first half of the year there were 250 homicides in Chicago—up 36 percent from last year, and the first time the city's reached that point halfway through the year since 2003.

[orpupilofnature57]

36. $$$$$$$$$$$$

[gejohnston]

26. you realize most of those racists in Arizona and Florida

transplants from New York, California, and New Jersey. Brewer is from California. Sheriff Joe is from New Jersey. In my part of Florida, Queens/Long Island south, the former New Yorkers are among the most despicable racists and assholes.

[orpupilofnature57]

35. Thats why they're There and not HERE N.Y.

GRAVITATING TO THEIR OWN LEVEL OF THINKING WITH NO liberals TO RUIN IT BECAUSE ALL THOSE PLACES YOU MENTIONED ARE ruled by LIBERALS.

[gejohnston]

37. Mostly because they hate snow

Arizona's race relations were much better until people like Brewer moved from California. California has more hate groups than any other state. LAPD has a long history of racism and corruption that makes Sanford, FL, look like the perfect PD.
The ones in Florida just came for the lack of snow.

[orpupilofnature57]

40. Zimmerman would have been gang raped by

concerned citizens, if he ever accosted a youth in the name of civic duty.

[gejohnston]

42. that is not a very liberal thing to do

it sounds pretty vigilante like to me. BTW, there were lynch mobs looking for him in Florida. Spike Lee sent them to the wrong house. Roseanne Barr sent them to the correct address.

[orpupilofnature57]

43. Your right not liberal , but wheres the racism?

[gejohnston]

44. I changed it but

it could be because he is Hispanic if we are talking about NYPD, parts of Philly, and of course New Jersey.

[orpupilofnature57]

46. We're not

[orpupilofnature57]

9. yahoo

[aikoaiko]

30. Its not nice to mock the anti-gun, anti-rkba crows like that.

Your caricature is spot on though.

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. The best reply came from the comments section:

Go dance in somebody else's blood, editor. Guns Saved Lives turned in $6,000 worth of guns. The thugs who killed Heaven turned in no guns at all.

[rfranklin]

12. Actually from what the article said, they turned in scrap metal...

Is this poster claiming otherwise?

[friendly_iconoclast]

16. If GSL took advantage of fools who willingly paid good money for junk, GSL is *not* the problem.

[shadowrider]

17. The offer was to turn in guns whether or not in working condition

so they turned in scrap metal. What's the problem?

[Kolesar]

5. Hope none of their friends or family members gets shot to death or maimed

It has happened to me.

[PavePusher]

48. You did see what they were going to use the money for, yes? n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

7. Redneck assholes ridiculing honest efforts

Notational Redneck Association.

[shadowrider]

11. There was no caveat expressly prohibiting them. They used the rules

as they were written. What's the problem?

[orpupilofnature57]

13. Their Agenda ,Ridiculing Honest efforts

that might put a bad light on their Deadly Toys.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

20. No. That was the agenda of the Sun Times writer.

They provide safety instruction and serve other worthwhile purposes.

As an example, from their web site:

At our January 2012 meeting our membership approved providing Sarah McKinley (the 18 year old woman from Oklahoma who shot an intruder to protect herself and her infant) a new shotgun to replace the one taken into evidence by the local police. Here she is receiving the gun after it was transferred to her by KAIROS Arms, a gunshop in Newcastle, OK.
http://www.gunssavelife.com/

Nothing from their web site indicates anything other than a sincere effort to turn in weapons, rusty or not, in conformance with the Chicago guidelines. If Chicago doesn't want a turn-in of such weapons, let Chicago change its own rules.

[friendly_iconoclast]

21. Feel-good security theater *should* be ridiculed, as often as necessary.

[orpupilofnature57]

34. Justifying " I need a gun " is * necessary *

[friendly_iconoclast]

38. Unless and until there becomes a Department of Needs, it isn't.

Added on edit:

In a free society, the onus is on government to show why something should not be done, not on the individual to demonstrate why they should be allowed to do something.

[orpupilofnature57]

41. Got me there.

[shadowrider]

45. Your honesty is appreciated n/t

[aikoaiko]

31. Gun buy back programs pad their numbers with these worthless guns. Can't have it both ways

If gun buy back programs required the firearms to be working, their numbers (and success stories) would decrease dramatically.

[4th law of robotics]

47. Going by past programs these wouldn't have accomplished anything

they'd have acquired junk, wasted a lot of money, and not taken one gun from the hands of a criminal.

[Gman]

10. LOL! And these idiots probably complain

About welfare queens and food stamp fraud. Opportunist assholes.

[sarisataka]

14. Ironic

Mockery gets you nowhere.

Not if your aim is to change hearts and minds rather than draw battle lines.

Then the article goes on to mock the Guns Save Life Group and the idea of teaching gun safety.
Battle lines drawn?


P.S. OP you posted 5 paragraphs this time. Remember when you had to cut the article off at 4, completely changing the context of an article?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=45298

[AnotherMcIntosh]

19. Agreed. The irony is certainly lost on some.

In addition, some seem to overlook the fact it was the Sun Times writer, not those who turned in old weapons in accordance with the rules so that they could further firearm training and safety, that interpreted the turn-in effort as making a mockery of the system.

The Sun Times writer attributes a motive to them which is not supported by the facts. If he could have obtained a mockery-supporting statement from them, he would have quoted and pubished it.

Quite frankly, I'm glad that some of the thinking-impaired people like the Sun Times writer, are not gun owners.

[shadowrider]

18. I wonder how many thugs turned in their guns to take advantage.

I'll bet not a one. $1000. Anyone care to bet?

[Marinedem]

23. Maybe somene can explain this to me:

We are always being told how groups like this shouldn't even be allowed to own arms.

We are always being told how the guns need to be "Taken off the streets"

What the hell is the problem then?

Less guns in circulation, with the proceeds going towards the education of children in the SAFE, RESPONSIBLE use of firearms.

Why don't you like this?

Because some idiot set up a shitty buyback with shittier parameters?

Start your own buyback then. Make sure you stipulate that only registered felons or career criminals are eligible for turn in.

It'll be one lonely day at your booth, I predict.

Money where your mouth is, put up or shut up, etc, etc...

[NewMoonTherian]

25. I have a shocking solution.

Instead of running a laughably broken buyback scheme next time, Chicago could just give that money directly to Guns Save Lives to run a huge gun safety education campaign inside the city. That would save far more lives than the buyback could ever come close to saving.

[ileus]

27. Sounds like a pretty smart move. Wish I had some broken junk to scam the antis with.

[nodak401]

28. where i live

i would estimate that 75% of homes have guns in them, many have a large collection. we also have a very low crime rate.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. Pro-gun "enthusiasts"? I wonder ...

... where would gun enthusiasts find 60 rusted and broken guns?

I think that true gun enthusiasts would only have working guns, protected by oil, grease, or cosmoline. A rusty gun would bring shame and loathing on its owner.

Anyway, if the $6200 is used to teach gun safety and marksmanship, it's money well spent.

[DonP]

39. Local FFLs usually collect them

One of the local "mom and pop" stores I go to has a box under the counter by the register they use to collect them.

Laurie, who runs the place, said she gets 20 or 30 people a year on average, that come in with an old gun in a paper bag or pillow case that they found "in Dad's old toolbox" or "In the bottom of a closet" or "in the basement".

She had one woman bring in an old .22 snubbie, wrapped in oilcloth, that the grandfather had used decades ago for killing Muskie before bringing them into the boat in Upper Michigan. He kept in in the bottom of a tackle box with a box of .22 shorts - just in case he caught a big one.

They usually want to know if it's worth anything and she's honest with them about that. When they realize it's not a 1st generation Colt SAA or S&W Russian, they usually ask her to just get rid of it for them.

She showed me the box once and they were generally things like old Iver Johnson or Hopkins & Allen revolvers that had rusted to the point where you couldn't fix them and if you did they wouldn't ever be safe to fire.

She had two or three of her people go down to the latest one too. Each took 5 or 6 of these old guns and picked up some gift cards. She uses them to buy stock for the store and pay bills. She always has pictures of the "Buy Back" and the debit cards they got for their junk guns.

She has a nice framed picture of Father Flaky Pfleger shaking her hand and thanking her for "getting these guns off the street" for a publicity photo too.

I guess my short answer to the OP? Yes, Gun Control has become a joke, politically, legislatively and judicially, mainly through their behavior, lying and gross overreaching at every turn.

[aikoaiko]

32. Gun control is not a joke, but gun buy backs often are.

It has long been known that individuals have turned in harmless metal in the form of broken, dismantled, unusable guns in order to collect whatever incentives were being offered.

Gun buy back programs claimed these guns and padded their statistics in order to appear to successful.

Sometimes people organize and use the money for other good causes. In this case the good cause was a legitimate youth gun safety program.

In case anyone else wants to do something like this... look for gun smith specials online or in classified ads. Good luck to you.

[slackmaster]

33. There was no mockery involved. It was an organized effort to get money for a good cause.

I have a few non-serviceable firearms and worn out BB guns that I'll gladly turn in next time there is a gun buy-back in my area.