Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 22:52:52 -0400 From: NRA Alerts To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Subject: INFO: AZ - Bans, Buybacks & "Brassroots" Bans, Buybacks & "Brassroots" There's a joke among gun enthusiasts that goes something like this: "How much is a sawed-off shotgun worth?" "About ten years in prison." Apparently the supervisors of Pima County, Arizona, don't get it. Nor do some local church leaders. The Tucson area Board of Supervisors voted to give church leaders 15,000 taxpayer dollars for a "gun buyback" program. The churches are using the money to buy gift certificates from merchants. Turn in a gun, get a $50 gift certificate. No questions asked. No questions asked about the gun's history either, like, was it stolen? Used in a crime? No questions asked about the gun giver? Did _he_ steal the gun or use it in a crime? There were also no questions asked about whether the program violates state law or the state constitution. Like most gun control schemes, it does. In the case of the Arizona constitution, "no public money or property shall be appropriated for ... any religious establishment." State law also puts the board of supervisors in a jam. When they order money paid from the county coffers without authority of law, they are liable, as individuals, to repay the money, with interest plus 20% on the principal. But the supervisors should take heart. It's not nearly as bad as the fate that might be awaiting participating church leaders. They may have become the unwitting (and unlawful) owners of illegal firearms. Go straight to prison, do not pass go, do not collect $50 gift certificate. Some last minute scrambling has changed the face, but not the substance, of the scam. For example, there's now a middleman (or a middle group) between the county coffer and church leaders, so money doesn't appear to go to churches. Seeing that some turn-ins are just broken, enterprising gun stores are accepting gift certificates as downpayments on working models. Despite the cosmetic changes and the entrepreneurial spirit of dealers, the buyback program still concerns a brassy, pro-gun grassroots group in Arizona (aptly named "Brassroots") that first raised questions about the scheme. Brassroots doesn't believe in spending public money to subsidize replacement of broken guns, launder illicit guns, destroy evidence or absolve owners of illegal guns from the tough penalties they so richly deserve. We agree. Gun buybacks -- and bans on expensive rifles a la the 1994 Clinton Gun Ban -- are all schemes based on the nutty idea that appearing to do something about criminal violence is the same as actually doing something about it. The fact is, bans and buybacks don't work. Look around. If bans and buybacks haven't worked in the nation's capitol, they sure won't work in Tucson. Bans and buybacks do work for people like Sean Barge of New Jersey. In February 1994, the teenager turned in a sawed-off shotgun during a Camden buyback. Instead of receiving a ten-year prison term, he received $50. The same day, Barge used the money to buy a handgun illegally (on the streets, from a man about to turn it into the buyback program). Two days later, he used the same gun to kill a man. (Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 11, 1994) Tucson supervisors should stop the nonsense before someone gets hurt. Criminals don't play games, much less play by the rules. And church leaders there should remember Waco where religious people suspected of possessing illegal guns got a lot more than they bargained for. And sometimes, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms forgets the rules, too. Tucson point-of-contact: Bernie Oliver President, Brassroots, Inc. 520/745-1085 -- or -- Internet: patriot@rtd.com =+=+=+=+ This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA. This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is available at any of the following URL's: http://WWW.NRA.Org, gopher://GOPHER.NRA.Org, wais://WAIS.NRA.Org, ftp://FTP.NRA.Org, mailto:LISTPROC@NRA.Org (Send the word help as the body of a message) Information may also be obtained by connecting directly to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK Bulletin Board System at (703) 934-2121.