City gun buyback: $200 a gun, no questions asked

Does anyone have any statistics that this actually works, and makes gun crimes go down?

I'm being VERY serious here. I read this article in the Metro this morning, and am curious to know if this actually works in reducing gun violence, or is more of a 'feel good' gesture to make folks feel like something is being done?

(and I mean hard evidence as a direct correlation, not a 'side effect')

This is why it's a good idea to buy crappy used $50 Locrin L25s whenever possible. Thanks for the no-questions-asked $450, suckers

Somehow a gun buyback program sounds like it can cause even more violence. Who else sees a bunch of the city's thugs running around stealing as many guns as possible to make $200 a pop on them?

Not to mention gun buyback's are a short term strategy at best. It'll take a mere few months for there to be just as many guns back on the streets of Boston as there were before.

The only way this MIGHT make a dent in gun violence is if they keep the $200 gun buyback program open indefinitely, with no cap.

Oh and what about all of those stabbings... might want to do a knife buyback while we're at it. Actually, not just knives, we should do a buyback on any sharp handheld object. That should make the streets safer for sure.

That 9-year old died at the hands of his 14-year old brother who was out of control and escalating in violence towards his entire family. He had been put in a group home after one incident and ran away from it the same day he arrived. He started a fight in school that required the in-school cop to call for backup to control him. He also claimed to have to protect himself from "other people" as his justification for obtaining the weapon (at who knows what cost and from whom).

Do you really think he would have said "Oh, wait, my plans are are all for naught. Before I accidentally kill my younger brother, let me deposit this pistol with the proper authorities and obtain a ripe $200 for my troubles and I'm certain no questions will be raised about a 14-year old handing in a gun when I do!".

That 9-year old boy is dead because his brother was out of control. Not because "there are too many guns on our streets" or because somewhere along that gun's story it would have been turned in for $200 instead of sold/given to that 14-year old for his own purposes and he never ever would have found an equivalent gun for his purposes. Using that death to justify this gun buyback is absurd. There are probably better poster cases where someone died because there was a gun that the family got a while ago and never thought to sell/dispose of correctly that this kind of buyback truly keeps from happening in the future. They should use one of those and stop raising the specter of that 9-year old whose mother was trying to get help in dealing with her 14-year old but the system ultimately failed all of them.

Tina Chery, whose son, Louis Brown, was shot to death in 1993, said parents have to help, even if that means getting a little tough. Kid has a lock on his door? "Take that lock off the door" and make sure nothing illegal is hidden there, she said.

Because a teenager who surreptitiously brought an illegal gun into your house and keeps it in his locked bedroom doesn't already have trust issues with you and a clear acceptance of violence as a solution. Quick, break down his door when he's not home, sell his illegal gun to the cops for $200, and talk to him about using words and not bullets. That will go swimmingly, I'm sure.

Now THERE is where the tale of the 14-year old that killed his 9-year old brother and physically abused his mother is relevant!

Criminals are gonna just rob people for more than $200 and get to keep their gun.