Gun Buyers at Firearms Turn-In



(Portland, Oregon) At a parking lot adjacent to the Memorial Coliseum, the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation conducted a four-hour firearms turn-in event yesterday.

Portland Police officers assisted foundation volunteers as gun owners surrendered their unwanted weapons for $75 gift cards.

Standing on the sidewalk across the street were a half-dozen gun buyers offering cash for the weapons. With bids starting at $80, the buyers shout cash offers to the gun owners, who typically do not know the resale value of their firearms.

Central Precinct Sgt. Tim Sessions said the police did not have a problem with the buyers on the sidewalk.

"They have a right to buy guns," Sessions said. "That's in the Constitution. So that doesn't bother me a bit."

Sessions dismissed the possibility that the sidewalk buyers would then sell to "undesirables. That's not the case. These people know what they're doing, They know the laws. They know they'd lose that right if they did sell to the undesirables."

Equally unlikely, said Sessions, who assisted the foundation with its guns buyback for nine years, is the notion that gang members would be among those turning in guns.

"They really would like to see the gangs turn in the guns," Sessions said. "And I tell them, 'Keep wishing that.' But it's not going to happen."

Gang members, first of all, want to hold onto their guns because "a gun means power. And two, they see us, the police, and they say 'We don't want to be caught with a gun.'"

Since criminals generally keep their guns, the value of gun buy-back/turn-in programs in reducing gun crime is questionable.