By Jim Irvine

Recently the city of Cleveland gave out $100 gas
and grocery gift cards to anyone turning in a
handgun. The anti-gun people (including the
media) act like this is a great thing. The
pro-gun people generally claim it is worthless.

I’ll explain why it is dangerous.

Click on ‘Read More’ for the entire commentary.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer story begins with this:

A line of cars stretched three city blocks in
downtown Cleveland on Saturday while people
waited to swap their guns for money.

More than 350 people went to the Convention
Center to ex change handguns for a $100 gift card
to BP or Dave's supermarket.

They went on to laud how 421 guns were
collected. They even quoted Deputy Chief Lester
Fultz talking about how “This is going to save a life.”

Or is it.

The story notes than guns will be destroyed after
entering their serial numbers to determine if
they were stolen. It does not say if stolen guns
will be returned to their proper owners, some of
whom might like to have them back. Some could be used to defend a potential victim’s life from a violent criminal.

Glaringly missing from the story is any mention
of these guns in relation to NIBIN, the National
Integrated Ballistics Information Network that
Cleveland will have for the next year thanks to a
5.9 million dollar federal grant.

Instead it is noted that “officers did not ask
questions about the guns” from people turning them in.

What a great deal for a murderer. To avoid
getting caught with that murder weapon, turn it
in for a $100 gift card. The gun will not be
subject to ballistic testing which would tie you
to a killing. And better yet, the gun (read
evidence) will be destroyed for you, so that it
can NEVER be used as evidence at your trial.

How many of the guns turned in were in terrible
condition - perhaps even to the point of being inopoerable - and not worth $100? How many guns were stolen, thus rewarding criminals for their
behavior? How many guns were used in crimes, but can no longer be linked to criminals?

How come no one else is asking these basic
questions? Because if they were answered, these
guns-for-money programs would be exposed for what they really are. It’s hard to imagine any
scenario where this program is reducing
crime. It’s easy to see how it helps and rewards criminals.

Once again, we see the leaders in Cleveland doing
anything but working to arrest, prosecute and
convict criminals.

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