by John Boch

Got unwanted guns?

We do.

They are unwanted because they are broken down junk and we love trading junk for perfectly good cash – especially if they cash comes from the City of Chicago’s coffers!

That’s right:  Chicago is once more looking for unwanted guns and they’ll buy them, even broken down junk, for perfectly good cash (well, pre-paid credit cards).

For the first time in three years, Chicago will be underwriting a new round of gun buybacks, done by local churches in the coming weeks.  This is thanks to Mayor Rahm Emanuel diverting $250,000 to fund the symbolic effort to get unwanted guns off the streets and reduce violent crime in Chicago.

We all know that if Chicago were serious about wanting to lower violent crime, they would put violence-prone individuals using firearms in prison for a long, long time as they do in Florida, not charge them with Class 4 felonies (1-3 years in prison) after they wound two people in a gang shooting or a misdemeanor when they miss their intended target.  For comparison purposes, these individual would all be looking at a generation in prison as a mandatory minimum if they had committed these offenses in Florida.  That is why Florida enjoys the lowest rate of firearm violent crime in that state’s history…  and why Chicago has about 2100 people shot this year and over 400 more killed.

(We wrote about this in TRAGIC COMEDY: Chicago’s justice system, not guns, at root of violence.)

Chicago’s newest buyback

These are the terms as we understand them:  They will be paying $100 for each firearm in the form of pre-loaded credit cards, similar to previous buybacks.  Churches will market and administer their own programs, with Chicago Police on hand to take possession of the guns during the event and hand out the $100 cards for each gun, no questions asked.

The mayor and police chief want to get 2500 guns off the street.

Here’s an offer, boys:  You want to get your program off to a good start Mayor?  Get in touch with me and I’ll get you fifty to start with – maybe 100 if you give me a couple of weeks.  They won’t be pretty, and most of them won’t actually shoot, but a gun’s a gun, right?

Intrepid readers might remember Guns Save Life’s foray into the last Chicago Gun Buyback in 2012.  Here’s my account from The Truth About Guns.

The publicity was a serious embarrassment for the powers that be in Chicago.  We thought it was great though.  We used that Windy City cash to provide ammunition (and a few guns) for young people to attend a National Rifle Association Youth Shooting Camp – for two years in a row.  We also gave another $1000 of Chicago taxpayer money to Ford County’s Pheasants Forever Young Guns program to help build a youth air-rifle shooting trailer.

• Chicago’s gun buyback helps group pay for youth shooting camp (Chicago Tribune)
• Chicago firearm buyback program funds gun camp for kids (Russia Today)
• ‘Guns Save Life’ Turns Gun Buyback into Fundraiser for NRA Youth Shooting Camp (Guns.com)
• Chicago gun buyback unknowingly raises money for NRA kids’ gun camp (NBC News)
• Illinois Hate Group subverts gun buyback program to fund NRA camp for children (Liberals Unite)  (Hate group, huh?)
• Pro-gun group uses Chicago firearms buyback program to fund shooting camp for kids (Fox News)
• Gun Rights Group Participates In Chicago Gun Turn-In, Uses Money For Shooting Camp (CBS Chicago)
• My favorite:  NRA-Backed Group Scams Chicago Taxpayers Into Buying Ammo, Bolt-Action Rifles For Children  (Think Progress)
• Gun Club Turns Tables on Windy City (Shooting Illustrated)

A cursory Google search gave a over two thousand entries about our 2012 visit to the event.

Frank Main from the Chicago Sun-Times inquired if we, as Guns Save Life, would be back for another dip into Chicago gun buyback cash.

Knowing he was in a press conference with the mayor and police chief at the time, I texted him the above photo and a note:  “Yes, we would be delighted to transact business once more with the do-gooders in Chicago… Tell the mayor we need substance over symbolism, not the other way around.”

He called late this afternoon and we had a nice, long talk.

Emanuel, McCarthy announce gun buy-back fund

CHICAGO (WGN TV) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced a $250,000 fund to enable religious and community organizations to host gun buy-back events. The money may be used for organization, advertising and $100 cash cards for each weapon turned in anonymously- with no questions asked.

“We’re going to try everything we can to bring a level of security and safety throughout the city of Chicago so that our families and our children have the opportunity to grow up free from violence,” Emanuel said Monday afternoon at Greater Open Door Baptist Church on the West Side.

The program signals a new strategy for gun recovery, as buy-backs have long been single events hosted by the Chicago Police Department. Emanuel said that more Chicagoans have roles to play in stopping gun violence during a year in which homicide numbers are up 20 percent from 2014.

“This is a way to do it, in our view, in a more effective way,” Emanuel said. “Working through the religious communities that know the individuals in the communities and neighborhoods who have guns. So it’s a way of responding and making it a more effective program.”