Seattle to offer buybacks for guns
Posted January 25, 2013 10:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SEATTLE (NEWS1130) – We’ve been hearing a lot about gun control in the States, in the wake of the mass shooting in Connecticut.
Cities like Seattle are employing gun buybacks, but it’s debatable whether they succeed in removing truly dangerous weapons from city streets.
Seattle’s gun buyback is being staged on Saturday. It has been twenty years since the city has used incentives to encourage people to turn in their guns. Folks who bring in guns will get $100 gift certificates, double that amount if they bring in assault weapons.
In Canada, police departments host the occasional gun amnesty, where gun owners can turn in firearms, no questions asked.
SFU criminologist Rob Gordon says we shouldn’t look to buybacks and gun amnesties to reduce weapons on our streets.
“Because a lot of these weapons that are turned in are not high powered weapons you’d expect to be used in crimes,” he explains.
“Keep in mind there’s not a lot of research in this area, but the guns that get turned in tend to be antiquities or not terribly high-velocity.”
