'Gifts for Guns' Gets Record Haul

[j21blackjack]

Didn't see it yet, running on Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,463172,00.html


LOS ANGELES — A program to exchange guns for gifts has brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries.

The annual Gifts for Guns program wound down Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores.

Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount.

In years past, Target and Best Buy were the cards of choice, with residents wanting presents for the holidays.

This year, most asked for the supermarket cards, said sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods.

"People just don't have the money to buy the food these days," he said.

Deputies expected to collect about 1,000 weapons this year. Authorities said 590 guns and two hand grenades were handed in during the last weekend in November, more than the total collected in any year and eclipsing last year's 387 guns.

Woods said most of the residents who turned in weapons were "family people."

"One guy said he had just got laid off from his job," Woods said. "He turned in five guns and said it would really help him to put food on the family's table."

Gun owners dropped their weapons off at a local grocery store parking lot. Deputies checked the weapons to see if they had been used in crimes, then destroyed them.

The annual drive started in 2005 after a spike in killings, though the murder rate had since dropped.

One man brought in a Soviet-era semiautomatic carbine.

"If that got into the wrong hands of gangbangers, they could kill several people within minutes," Woods said. "Our biggest fear is a house getting burglarized and these guns getting taken."

The drive also has yielded antique weapons.

Gift cards for the guns exchange were paid mostly by Los Angeles County, but the three companies involved and the city of Compton, which contracts the county for police protection, also donated funds.


My favorite part is "If that got into the wrong hands of gangbangers, they could kill several people within minutes," Woods said. "Our biggest fear is a house getting burglarized and these guns getting taken."

Or maybe the robbers can just shoot the unarmed homeowners, all for a measly $100. If these jerks would give a fair price for the guns maybe the people could spare to keep a gun or two and still have something to defend themselves with.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Sporty79]

This doesn't make sense to me.....If I needed money that bad that I had to get rid of my guns it wouldn't be for a $100 dollar gift card!!!! Why wouldn't they sell them for what they are worth? Unless it's less than $100 but not too many are.

[j21blackjack]

About the only way I would give up a gun is if was totally broken beyond repair. I'm pretty sure they accept broken guns too.

[The Arverni]

Wow, maybe we need to start an "unofficial" version of gifts for guns. $100 per gun, $200 per assault rifle? At that price, I'd buy guns all day, except they wouldn't get destroyed, and they wouldn't be used in crimes either.

[j21blackjack]

+1!

[Rcher]

This program makes me sick to think about it. I cant believe people will give away their guns for a gift certificate. Some of them are giving away family heirlooms. What a waste.

[stormbringerr]

all yall hurry up and trade in your assault rifles now...sheeees

[nutz4utwo]

Authorities said 590 guns and two hand grenades were handed in

But aren't hand grenades illegal??? They must have bought them through the "gun show loophole"

[GWRedDragon]

But aren't hand grenades illegal??? They must have bought them through the "gun show loophole"

Aren't hand grenades legal class 3 devices if registered properly?

[SleepingZ]

This doesn't make sense to me.....If I needed money that bad that I had to get rid of my guns it wouldn't be for a $100 dollar gift card!!!! Why wouldn't they sell them for what they are worth? Unless it's less than $100 but not too many are.

Well if you have not noticed, there are ALOT of stupid people walking on this Earth. Never wonder why some people will just never get ahead?????


Z

[Miggy]

imagine... be a gangsta, kill somebody with a gun, turn it in to the authorities for proper disposal & get a $100 bonus on top of that. Is this a great country or what?

[Tyler11B]

the two grenadas are a nice touch i bet they were old nam nades, i dont even know how to get a grenade, Lord knows if i did i would have a crap load of them, properly registered of course

[archer51]

I still think the way to go is buy a bunch of cheap BB guns and turn them in, making a profit on them. Your happy because you bought the BB gun for $20-30 and redeemed it for $100. Anti's are happy because they got a weapon of mass destruction off the streets!

[KenInColo]

imagine... be a gangsta, kill somebody with a gun, turn it in to the authorities for proper disposal & get a $100 bonus on top of that. Is this a great country or what?

How many of those 500+ guns do you suppose were legal?

[dukalmighty]

How many were 50.00 guns that got sold for a profit,the reference to the sks was amusing