More than 700 guns collected at Seattle buyback event
SEATTLE -- A gun buyback program held in Seattle on Saturday collected 716 guns in less than four hours, city officials said Monday -- a response so overwhelming the program had to end early.
The return count was nearly evenly split between pistols and rifles, and among the weapons turned in were three "street sweepers" -- shotguns that include a high capacity magazine capable of holding twelve 12-gauge shotgun shells -- and a military surface-to-air missile launcher.
“There was clearly a lot of pent up demand for a gun buyback," said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. "I'm pleased that so many people were able to safely dispose of unwanted guns."
The massive turnout clogged traffic on Sixth Avenue and on an I-5 off-ramp leading to the buy-back area, located in a parking lot underneath the freeway between James and Cherry streets.
Scalpers offering cash for guns held up signs on surrounding streets, trying to tempt gun owners before they reached the official drop-off point.
"It was absolutely crazy what we saw out there," McGinn said.
A man standing outside the event bought the military weapon for $100 from another person there, according to Detective Mark Jamieson. Police witnessed the private exchange and then spoke to the buyer, who was cooperative. Officers then inspected the launcher and determined that it was unarmed. However, police confiscated the weapon because it is considered a controlled military item, Jamieson said. The man was offered a $100 gift card and the launcher was set to be turned over to military officials.
Officers saw other guns changing private hands without knowing whether the person buying the gun had the legal right to buy it, and those transactions are occurring all the time, McGinn said.
He added that the private sales of the missile launch tube and other weapons illustrate the need for comprehensive background checks as proposed by President Barack Obama, as well as other regulations at the state level.
While there were private gun buyers at the periphery of Saturday's event, Metz said a large majority of people chose to wait in line and get less money because they wanted to make sure they got the weapons off the streets.
"These are very dangerous weapons," Metz said. "They may not have looked very pretty, but (they're) definitely operable."
The buy-back originally was scheduled to continue through 3 p.m. But at 11:45 a.m., police were forced to turn away anyone who wasn't already in line as they started running low on gift cards. In all, $68,000 in gift cards were handed out on Saturday.
Seattle police had about $80,000 in gift cards on hand through several donors, but opted to keep some in reserve for a future buyback date. They are soliciting more donations.
"The turnout shows the demand is there, and I thank all those who donated funds to provide the financial incentive," said King County Executive Dow Constantine.
Meanwhile, police said citizens who wanted to turn in guns could do so at any time outside a buyback program, though they wouldn't be compensated for it.
Four of the guns turned in were confirmed to have been stolen. Police said they will contact the owners of the gun and ask if they want it returned or destroyed.
The return count was nearly evenly split between pistols and rifles, and among the weapons turned in were three "street sweepers" -- shotguns that include a high capacity magazine capable of holding twelve 12-gauge shotgun shells -- and a military surface-to-air missile launcher.
“There was clearly a lot of pent up demand for a gun buyback," said Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. "I'm pleased that so many people were able to safely dispose of unwanted guns."
The massive turnout clogged traffic on Sixth Avenue and on an I-5 off-ramp leading to the buy-back area, located in a parking lot underneath the freeway between James and Cherry streets.
Scalpers offering cash for guns held up signs on surrounding streets, trying to tempt gun owners before they reached the official drop-off point.
"It was absolutely crazy what we saw out there," McGinn said.
A man standing outside the event bought the military weapon for $100 from another person there, according to Detective Mark Jamieson. Police witnessed the private exchange and then spoke to the buyer, who was cooperative. Officers then inspected the launcher and determined that it was unarmed. However, police confiscated the weapon because it is considered a controlled military item, Jamieson said. The man was offered a $100 gift card and the launcher was set to be turned over to military officials.
Officers saw other guns changing private hands without knowing whether the person buying the gun had the legal right to buy it, and those transactions are occurring all the time, McGinn said.
He added that the private sales of the missile launch tube and other weapons illustrate the need for comprehensive background checks as proposed by President Barack Obama, as well as other regulations at the state level.
While there were private gun buyers at the periphery of Saturday's event, Metz said a large majority of people chose to wait in line and get less money because they wanted to make sure they got the weapons off the streets.
"These are very dangerous weapons," Metz said. "They may not have looked very pretty, but (they're) definitely operable."
The buy-back originally was scheduled to continue through 3 p.m. But at 11:45 a.m., police were forced to turn away anyone who wasn't already in line as they started running low on gift cards. In all, $68,000 in gift cards were handed out on Saturday.
Seattle police had about $80,000 in gift cards on hand through several donors, but opted to keep some in reserve for a future buyback date. They are soliciting more donations.
"The turnout shows the demand is there, and I thank all those who donated funds to provide the financial incentive," said King County Executive Dow Constantine.
Meanwhile, police said citizens who wanted to turn in guns could do so at any time outside a buyback program, though they wouldn't be compensated for it.
Four of the guns turned in were confirmed to have been stolen. Police said they will contact the owners of the gun and ask if they want it returned or destroyed.
The missile launch tube is a onetime use non-reloadable launcher. Many servicemen have them and they are legal to have. Launch tubes are non accountable government trash. Police overreacted as are the press. The military only collect them here when used in training. They even show up for sale on the DRMO web site sometimes along with bullets, powder, brass, cannon shells, etc.
And the best part is the thing ended up turning into an impromptu gun show after the cops ran out of gift cards :D
The next time SPD has an event like this, they need to have an "Amnesty Room" where someone can hand in weapons banned by the ATF anonymously, without payment of course, a "NO BOMBS or INCENDIARY DEVICES" sign needs to be posted outside of that area. This really makes people not want to turn in some items now. And no gun buy back event will not be as effective until you close the Gun Show loop hole.
Is that a Stinger Missle launch tube that I see? Who turned that in? I am almost certain that U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, (C.I.D.) is going to be very interested in where this came from and so is the A.T.F.
Ah... read THIS http://dcxposed.com/2013/01/27/seattle-gun-buyback-gets-jacked-turns-into-a-damn-gun-show-lol/ and that made me feel better about the city of Seattle's Gun Show Loophole exercise.
700 guns and the less then dozen of the "scary" ones are shown and they appear to be junk. Yep that was money wasted.
 @Common Sense I think I just found out why:
http://dcxposed.com/2013/01/27/seattle-gun-buyback-gets-jacked-turns-into-a-damn-gun-show-lol/
Almost all the good ones got "adopted" rather than destroyed.
 @RN1  @Common Sense Center leaning up a against the table next to the launch tube is Sten MkII WWII era fire arm. Collectors piece.
 @JCM1776  @Common Sense I saw that - I'd be shocked to see something like that show up. On the SPD not recognizing it, it's possible (even if they are pretty distinctive), as they have not proven themselves to be over-educated on the subject of firearms.
 @RN1  @Common Sense Good point, or nobody in SPD recognized it. A Sturmgewehr 44 turn up early this year in Hartford, back East.
I just hate to think of historic pieces being lost this way.
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http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/valuable-wwii-gun-police-buy-back-022155231--abc-news-topstories.html
 @JCM1776  @Common Sense Yeah. I commented on that earlier. Thinking further, if it were a real Sten, I'm sure they'd be bragging about snagging a genuine sub-machine gun. It's more likely that it's something like a low-grade semi-auto replica POS. Might be real, but given the lack of coverage, not likely.
1.3 Million children are slaughtered in the United States every year, yet the liberals are not against abortions? Think about it 1.3 Million babies slaughtered....
 @Reynold Sarns A zygote isn't a person.
 @jowsuf By your definition neither is an egg of an eagle, yet our laws protect eagle eggs under the same terms as a live eagle.
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Whatever helps you defend your right to choice eh? I am against abortion with some obvious exceptions...but also believe at the point of fertilization a life has begun.
 @jowsuf I give no rank to killing. As I mentioned I support some situations of abortion, but unfortunately with about 1 million in the US and 40 million world wide per year I see it being used more as a form of birth control. And being justified by many people. This is a reality of the world, and it a very sad reality. Not one I am willing to accept!
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and to further answer your question, no I do not "accept" the killing in war, death sentence, self defense, or any other example. But like with abortions there are situations that these are "necessary" (used for lack of a better word).
 @komotriedtosilenceme Perhaps you should think about this. Do you approve of our military actions? Do you approve of the death sentence? Do you approve of a police officer shooting and killing a suspect who is about to kill them or others?Â
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Ending life is never the preferred course of action, but sometimes it is necessary for the greater good. You can't pick and choose where life is sacred and where it is not. Terminating some pregnancies is for the greater good of all involved, just as killing some dangerous people is for the greater good. Sometimes it is necessary to end life. One isn't more justifiable than another. To end life is to end life. Sometimes it is for the best. This is the reality of our world. You'd do well to learn to accept it and stop giving rank of importance to certain types of killing.
 @jowsuf It does not invalidate anything, you are validating only a person (or viable end product of life) as having value. You do not value life, you only value people? To end a life is to kill something. But when people call pro-choice people killers they are extremists. You are entitled to your opinion, as am I.
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I just have seen a lot of justification regarding abortion, and wanted clarity on your opinion. And you have given it, and for that I thank you.
 @komotriedtosilenceme I didn't say only a person is life. I said a person is a person. A zygote or a fetus is not a person, regardless of the stage of development. When you terminate a pregnancy, you are stopping a biological process. Stopping life. You're exaggerating this point, however. You're not killing a person, you're halting the process that leads to a person. Once again, nowhere did I define what life is. This invalidates your statement about the eagle eggs.
 @jowsuf And biology will tell you that life does begin at fertilization.
 @jowsuf So you feel only a person is life? Yes a zygote is not a "person" but it is a living developing human being. And a fetus, depending on age, is an unborn person. (youngest living at 20 or 21 weeks if my memory serves)
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You attempt to contrast the developmental stage with life, yet the two are different. And even biology will tell you that. By your argument egg â eagle therefore egg protection shouldn't equal preservation of the eagle species. But we all know it does, because the egg, once fertilized is a developing eagle.
 @komotriedtosilenceme It doesn't matter what you believe life is or what I use to defend my case. Biology is what it is. A zygote is not a person. A fetus is not a person. Just like a caterpillar is not a butterfly, and an egg is not a chicken. As far as eagles go, we don't protect their eggs because we have some moral opposition to removing them, we protect their eggs to preserve the continuity of the species. Humans don't have that problem.
 @jowsuf  @Reynold Sarns Depends on the country you are in. And your philosophical outlook on a couple of things. Legally speaking, in this country, right now, you are correct.
 @jowsuf Not disagreeing, personally, assuming your "cluster of cells" is sufficiently small. But the legal side of things is not always the same as the science side of things. (Law, where you get stupid things like "fish" not being "meat", and things like that)
 @RN1 It depends on science. A cluster of cells isn't a person.Â
@Reynold Sarns Who cares, one less on food stamps.
 @Reynold Sarns Abortions used to really bother me until I realized the majority of women having abortions are liberal democrats.  The aborted kids would more than likely grow up to be liberals. So aborting a liberal fetus should be celebrated. Yes I am being absurd.Â
Leave to the leftist media NOT to mention that the "Missile" launcher was INERT!!Â
 @JBecraft Also leave it to them to not really talk about the large-scale impromptu gun show the city apparently put on. http://dcxposed.com/2013/01/27/seattle-gun-buyback-gets-jacked-turns-into-a-damn-gun-show-lol/
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I haven't been able to find how many law abiding criminals turned in their guns? Â
This from spdblotter.seattle.gov Breaking it down, SPD collected 364 rifles and 348 pistols, including a Stinger missile launcher tube and three Street Sweeper shotguns, and officers handed out more than $68,000 worth of gift cards in less than four hours. I thought they had $100,000 to give out. And they turned people away. They say they are saving some for a future event. Sure they are.
Let's think about some real numbers: Â On April 15, 2012 in Tyler, a 4-year-old boy pulled a firearm out of his motherâs purse and accidentally shot himself in the head. On May 31, 2012 in Fort Worth a 9-year-old girl was killed when her father was taking a firearm out of a bag and it accidentally discharged. On Dec. 14, 2012 in Newtown, Conn., 20 children and 6 school staff were killed by an individual with mental illness using firearms designed for war. These are not isolated firearm-related death of children. U.S. vital statistics data showed that in a 8-year period (1999-2006) there were 23,649 firearm-related deaths among children. This is a national public health concern.
 @BH Herring Yes, I agree that gun owners that improperly storing their guns is a big issue. Thank you for pointing this out. Guns should either be in your immediate control (ie on your person) or securely locked in a safe or similar.
@BH Herring January 3rd, a mother of two retreats as far as she could with her two children in their home, the intruder kept coming for her but luckily she had a gun and was able to defend herself.
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January 16th, Virginia,  a woman staying home sick from work uses her gun to defend herself against 3 intruders who fled when they seen her gun. Later one of them came back and she shot him.
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January 4th, Oklahoma after her husband died in December, a man read the obituary and with another individual showed up and threatened her and her 3 month old baby with a 12 inch knife. She had a shotgun and pistol, called 911 asked for the police to show up quickly at which point the guy with the knife lunged after her and she promptly shot him. But hey don't worry, it only took the police 21 minutes to arrive, strange that they bad guys didn't wait.
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Feb 10, 2010, New mexico, 2 men attempt a home invasion, but the home owner was able to shoot and kill one thief while the other was able to get away....what are the chances he is coming back?
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Dec 27th, sacremento, 3 young children are having a sleepover after christmas , at 3am the man of the house hears a noise, grabs his gun and investigates to find that 3 assailants have broken in to his house. There was as struggle, the homeowner was injured but able to wound 2 and kill the 3rd. Police showed up 16 minutes after they were called.Â
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Dec 18th, oregon mall, Gunman kills 2 until he is confronted by a citizen with a gun at which point he took his own life.  Had the citizen not been there I am sure the shooter would have waited for the police to show up and take him away.
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April 26th, Utah. A man purchases a knife at a grocery store, then stands at the entrance and begins stabbing people entering and exiting the store. Luckily an armed civilian was able to immediately draw his weapon and order the stabber to drop his weapon and get on the ground which he promptly did. Â
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I have just given you 2 examples for each example you gave showing that there are more good guys doing good things than each of your examples. I also through in an extra but I guarantee that for everyone you try to come up with, which can only be 14 I will give you 2 examples of the opposite side of the coin.  The reason we don't hear about all the good that guns do is not because it doesn't happen but because most events don't involve any shots being fired. But the news can't sell advertising for non death stories or auto accidents but they can sell the small amount of school shootings and make alot of money cause it will get people such as yourself all worked up and watcing their newscast..... no matter how much bad information they give out.
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So, yeah, feel free to say you are concerned for the life of children but do some research and ask yourself if you are really looking in the right direction or being lead there by the media.
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 @james You forgot to mention the 8 year old girl whose uncle thought she was a skunk and shot her. Or, the thousands of others who were accidentially killed with their parents gun. Or the thousands of women who are shot to death by their husbands/boyfriends. For every person who has saved themselves with a gun, another has died. So, what's your point?
 @justmyopinion  @james Actually, there are a LOT more defensive gun uses than murders/accidental deaths every year. On the order of ten to one hundred times as many, depending on which DGU numbers you believe.
 @BH Herring CDC count age 15-24 as one group with out discrimination to how they got shot. Total number accidents shootings nationwide 2010 was less than 1000. Total number of Firearm deaths is right around 30,000, with 2/3 being suicides. Last week a 15 year old armed bank robber was shot and killed by police, he's included in the "children" killed by firearms stats. Of the remaining in the 15 to 24 age group the vast majority is gang related, so the issue isn't firearms.
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Of Children 14 and under fewer than 200 are are killed by firearms. Far more children are killed by an abusive parent or guardian than by firearms.
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Over all of "health" risks firearms would rank at about the 16th cause of death.
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http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCID_All_Deaths_By_Age_Group_2010-a.pdf
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 @JCM1776  @BH Herring You are all arguing about instances which are extremely uncommon and can't really be used as an argument for or against.Â
@BH Herring 1.3 Million children every year slaughtred in the US... yet you probably are pro abortion.
 @BH Herring Cars and doctors, are those a national public health concern? They've killed more...
 @Scott When gun makers spend as much money trying to make guns safer as car manf. and hospitals have, then I will agree that you might have a point. Very few advances have been made in gun safety, but an untold amount of lives have been saved by the improvements made in cars and hospitals.
 @justmyopinion This is part of the problem with the whole gun control debate. The people who are advocating gun control know nothing about guns. First of all, guns are pretty simple mechanically. There are only so many safety improvements you can do. That being said a lot of improvements have been made in the past 100 years to improve the safety of firearms. Since you obviously know, how much money have gun makers spent on safety? Please also state the total amount of revenue by each industry for an accurate comparison. In addition to the mechanical safety improvements gun manufacturers have spent money on firearm safety education.Â
 @james great point. All modern handguns are drop safe.
 @justmyopinion  @Scott Actually, modern guns are generally VERY safe. If you don't pull the trigger, they don't go BANG. That's safe. But, they are a powerful human-directed tool, and humans do some pretty stupid things at times. The problem is that we don't teach gun safety in school, so a lot of people know nothing more than they learned in movies... most of which is wrong.
@justmyopinion @Scott mute argument. If you knew anything about the history of a gun you would know that the industry has made vast improvements over the years in regards to safety.  For all the safety improvements on cars we still a staggering number of vehicle deaths.
@Scott @BH Herring 300K people per year are killed by doctors, roughly 20-40K per year by auto accidents. but please tell the family neither of these things was designed to kill so that should make them feel better.
@Scott @BH Herring and smokes, and booze, and cheeseburgers for that matter.
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 @cyclops Let me see if I am paying attention. First you mock the "redneck hillbillies" for their lack of ability to come up with anything intelligent. You call them "idiots" and other names, claim you are not a bigot, but rather just stereotyping. Now that you have had it pointed out that yes in fact you were being a bigot your the best you come up with is "you are one too"?
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So not only are you a bigot, you are also a hypocrite. Oh by the way, very few people are against a meaningful gun reform law. Banning "AR" weapons has proven itself pointless in the past and really has no validity outside of appeasement. There are quite few gun control measures on the books already. and according to J. Biden the current administration doesn't have the time or manpower to pursue those that falsify and abuse these rules.
 @cyclops  @aintno1special Let me get this straight. You think that wanting to be left alone, and wanting other be left alone, is bigotry, but your demanding that we spend tax money to infringe on specifically enumerated rights because YOU don't think your average American is trustworthy and needs to ask for government approval for doing a protected activity is NOT intolerant? I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Hoplophobia is the irrational fear of guns. More people die from drowning that from rifles of all sorts, yet you focus on the guns but not swimming spots.
 @aintno1special All of you gun crazies are intolerant of people who  want some sort of gun control = bigotry.  Yes you are one too then.
 @cyclops Your stereotyping has lead to your bigotry, then. Glad we got that straightened out.
 @cyclops I too read the posts on this forum and as a gun owner I have seen as much uneducated responses from the anti-gun crowd. However, I did enjoy how you created a nice little escape loop-hole for yourself from the labeling of being a hillbilly.
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I think you are taking the posts of cars kill people too seriously...They are meant IMO to show the ignorance of the extreme anti-gun folks that want guns banned.
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And BTW by calling someone an idiot and backwards thinking baboons is creeping very close to an intolerance of their opinion, and therefore more of a bigotry than a stereotype.
 @RN1 Sorry you don't know the meaning of the word bigotry...I was making a stereotype.  Thanks for helping make my point.
 @cyclops  @whatifafrog Your bigotry is showing.
 @whatifafrog  Not surprising with your background your infatuation with guns.  I am not saying all gun owners are hillbillies.  I own a firearm for protection. From reading the posts recently on this topic it has become obvious to me that this forum is overrun by hillbillies...not very educated backwards thinking baboons.  The best most can come up with is...cars kill people...why not ban cars...blah  blah  blah.  Idiots
@BH Herring @Scott  wait, so its not important how they are dying just that the small amount of peole dying by guns is the focus of your anger?  The preventable deaths statistics, during the same time frame shows 1.8 MILLION children died (worldwide) from auto accidents, 1.2 million from drowning, 672K from fires but the amount of children dying doesn't matter?!?! Also, the "assault rifles" were also not designed to kill, they were designed specifically to wound an individual and also the reason they are not allowed for hunting in most states. You are doing dead children no justice by attacking something that has no real impact on their death. Both car and rifle are inanimate objects, but you are not really worried about death of children.  Don't get mad. If you areally in it for the safety of children, I mean really worried then do a better job of going after the right things.
@cyclops And your ignorant name calling helps? I am one of those hillbillies, with 20 plus years service in the military, a dozen years in law enforcement, two degrees, and a collection of guns. You are too deaf to even hear what your savior said "Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas," Obama said. "So it's trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes," he said.
 @BH Herring Seriously...that is the best the hillbillies can come up with.
 @BH Herring Geeze, I'm going to have to return my firearms then they are defective since they have never killed anyone.Â