From: alane@microsoft.com (Alan Ezekiel)
Subject: End of the Seattle Buy-Back
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:44:46 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

The Seattle buy-back is over.  After only four days of operation,
they collected 1287 handguns and "modified" guns for $50 each, which
has expended all the money they were able to collect for this effort.

The buy-back was initially forced to close on the second day, due to
an unexpectedly large number of guns being turned in.  The sponsoring
group (called "Stop the Violence") did some emergency fundraising
and managed to get enough to keep the operation going for another
two days.  But they are out of money now, and the organizers do not
plan to try again.

There is an article about this in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
I will not post the entire article, as most of the material has been
posted to t.p.g. already, but here are a few notable paragraphs from
the middle of the article:

(Excerpt from the P-I story "Sponsors Are Gun-ho as Buyback Ends".
 Reproduced without permission.)

[James Kelly, president of "Stop the Violence"] said the program was
targeted for the start of the school year in an effort to keep guns
out of schools.  "What better gift for the first day of school than
to have 1287 less guns around," Kelly said.

"We're proud of ourselves," added Kay Godefroy, director of the
Seattle Neighborhood Group, a buyback participant that coordinates
citizen's anti-crime programs.

"We weren't just talking to kids about why they shouldn't carry guns;
we were putting our money where our mouth is."

Kelly said he has no plans to continue the program, but noted that
cities such as Spokane, Tacoma, and Olympia have expressed interest
in the buyback effort.

"It's important to try this statewide," he said.  "This is one step
to address the underlying cause of violence."

(end of excerpted paragraphs; my comments follow)

Even if one were to accept the idea that reducing private ownership
of guns in the Seattle area would reduce crime, I have to wonder
what the organizers think they accomplished by purchasing and
destroying 1287 of them.  That isn't even a drop in the bucket.

More worrisome is the suggestion that a statewide effort is next.
Considering the amount of favorable press which they received from
this buyback, I can only assume that a larger statewide effort will
get even more.

The slant of the press coverage was really quite remarkable.  I have
yet to see ANY newspaper criticize this effort, in ANY way.  Nobody
has even pointed out the obvious ineffectiveness of collecting a
mere 1287 guns!  And the organizers admit that most of the guns came
from adults who simply wanted to sell off old handguns they didn't
use anymore (Quiz question: how much crime do such people cause?)
but the newspapers haven't given this admission the attention it
deserves.

(All information from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p B1, 9/10/92)

                               -- Alane --
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