Today, I announced the details of LA's second Gun Buyback Program, taking place Saturday, May 8.
In a show of unity, I stood with members of the community like Pastor Calloway, who has lost too many members of his congregation to gun violence and Vicky Lindsey, who was inspired to start Project Cry No More after her son and husband were murdered in senseless acts.
These stories put into perspective how important it to get dangerous weapons off our streets. Far too often these weapons are obtained by flouting the law. And those who break the law to steal a gun are much more likely to use that gun to commit a crime, which is why we often find guns at the center of violent crimes that could have been avoided.
For that reason, we are calling on all L.A. residents to join us in securing a safer City for every family, to implore Angelenos to turn in their guns and participate in our Gun Buyback Program. We believe that when faced with an easy, safe way to voluntarily surrender a weapon coupled with the right kind of incentives people will come forward and give up their guns.
And we know we are right. We began this effort last year in May to incredible success with the collection of nearly 1,700 firearms. Not only did it serve to take dangerous weapons off our streets, but it also served as a theft deterrent.
As you know, the vast majority of guns that are used to commit crimes are stolen or otherwise obtained illegally. The Gun Buyback Program gives individuals a comfortable and accessible site where they can drop off their weapons on neutral ground--no questions asked. In exchange, they receive a Ralph's gift card or a VISA pre-paid card of up to $200 for assault weapons, and up to $100 for handguns.
The bottom line here is that the gifts-for-guns method has been tested and it works. It effectively takes firearms off our streets and away from our children, makes our neighborhoods safer, and goes a long way towards combating the scourge of gang violence and it puts some extra cash in the pockets of those who need it, especially during these tough economic times.
By working together, we can take thousands more weapons out of our neighborhoods so that children can walk to and from school safely, parents don't have to live in fear of losing their sons and daughters to senseless acts of violence, businesses can operate without worrying that they are in harm's way.
By thinking strategically and by offering the right incentives, we can create a safer Los Angeles, neighborhood by neighborhood. I want to urge all Angelenos to join us to make this Gun Buyback even more successful than the last.
Get details of the program, including drop-off locations and flyers you can print out, go to my Gun Buyback page.
Cross-posted at mayor.lacity.org
Follow Antonio Villaraigosa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/villaraigosa
You obviously are an anti-gun, pro-illegal immigration, bleeding heart liberal. AS a gun owner, CCW permit holder, former Arizonan, and retired law enforcement officer, I can see you know nothing about Arizona, it's laws, culture, crime rate, or illegal immigrant problem. Arizona still has CCW laws on the books, require a permit to carry concealed (legally) after passing a training course and stiff fines and jail terms for those that carry a gun in commission of a crime. Arizona is one of a few states that permit both open carry and concealed carry. Concealed carry is permitted in one's house, business and owned property(land), without permit. Open carry is permitted on public property (street) and on private property where not prohibited by the owner of the property. It's culture hasn't changed in over 100 years. Robbers still rob banks and people in the streets, cattle rustling still occurs, and private property owners/ranchers still protect themselves, their families and livestock from predators and criminals, with guns. Illegal immigration and the crimes that come as a result (drug gang violence, kidnappings, street crimes, burglary, theft, robbery, murder, assault, etc) is occuring at an ever increasing rate. LEO's are prohibited from profiling for immigration status based SOLELY on race, color, or national origin by LAW. Leave your liberal rant at the border, and don't comment about Arizona unless you know something about it.
Anyone who wants to get rid of their guns can easily do so. All they need to do is sell them to a dealer or take them apart and throw them away. This isn't that hard to figure out.
In the mean time, I say we should have "car buyback programs" as a response to drunk driving. I'm sure the alcoholics will be lining up around the block to turn them in.
And which is why your gun "buyback" programs are useless: Because those who steal guns are only going to turn them in for money to get better ones or to make a profit off of lousy guns they stole. In other words, you will be acting as a fence for stolen guns. Great work Mayor.
"And we know we are right. We began this effort last year in May to incredible success with the collection of nearly 1,700 firearms."
1,700 crappy junk guns that lawful citizens wanted to get rid of, or that criminals stole and wanted to get a profit from. I've got some great ocean front property in Montana to sell to anyone who thinks this is going to reduce crime.
"The bottom line here is that the gifts-for-guns method has been tested and it works."
Really? Mayor, please show one ONE study stating that gun turn-in programs have any impact whatsoever on crime rates. You can't because there arn't any.
Talk about a gun thief's dream come true.
Recently, the gun fetishists were all giggly and gay about AZ passing some of this nation's laxest CCW laws. The gun fetishists declared this legislation to be the biggest civil rights legislation since school desegregation.
It is odd, therefore, that the same state--AZ--feted by the gun fetishists just passed legislation which allows any LEO to demand proof of citizenship papers of anyone based on nothing more than skin color or accent or dress.
Odder still, the sponsors of the legislation which essentially requires all non-whites to carry papers that must be shown on demand are the very same who championed the CCW laws. And those who supported the "show us ze papers" laws also supported the CCW legislation.
So, when gun fetishists talk about civil rights--you have to understand they're only referring to white males.
There isn't any. All gun rights supporters I've talked too oppose it, as do I. I'm all for cracking down on illegal immagration but allowing the cops to ask for "your papers, please" for any reason brings up images no one should want to be associated with,
What they actually did was give nearly $6000 for a collection of , not symbolic, but movie props.
http://blog.vcdl.org/index.php?/archives/759-The-scrap-metal-buy-back-program.html
Congratulations. Money well spent taking those 'dangerous' non-firearms off the streets.
Sorry, but there has never been any evidence that buy-back programs are effective in reducing the violent crime rate in the areas they have been tried.
If anything they have stymied police investigations, funded more problems, and in many cases have ripped off the people turning in firearms.
I like the ones in California which don't require a 4473... I am glad they are able to suspend a law for their agenda.
I understand the tragedies underneath these thoughts. It's part of what's driven me to volunteer and contribute to public safety in our region for almost two decades. But this isn't strategic. It's not even tactical. It's superficial. Until the day comes that guns stop being symbolic props and we begin to recognize, like so much of the rest of the country has, that finding ways to constructively involve everyone in public safety is the only real solution, I fear there will be little true progress towards bringing these people's heartaches to closure.
Respectfully,
Dennis Santiago
A common term for such activities is "fell good measures". They make everyone feel like they did something good, even though they did not -- they may have actually caused the problem to get worse via unintended consequences.
For more than 75 years we have focused on firearms as the cause of crime, passing increasingly restrictive firearm laws, yet according to the Centers for Disease Control, the net conclusion of more than 50 studies of the effectiveness of these "gun control laws" is that there is no conclusive envedence that such laws work.
Because we focus on the objects used in crimes instead of the actual causes, we imply that crime is OK as are the underlying causes -- we imply it is the firearms that are bad. Firearms are just a symptom.
What we are doing is like trying to cure cancer with a self-adhesive Band-Aid for a finger cut. If we really want to reduce violence, inclduing that involving firearms is that we need to focus on economics, education, ethics and deglamorize violence.