we will fight for the right..."

On November 28, 2007 reporters were invited to watch the city of Cleveland destroyed more than 421 guns at ArcelorMittal Steel. It's the eighth "gun burn" this year, Mayor Frank Jackson said in a news release. The guns were turned over to or confiscated by Cleveland police. That will bring the number of guns destroyed this year to 3,000.

The event began on November 11 with a line of cars stretching three city blocks in downtown Cleveland while people waited to swap their guns for money. More than 350 people went to the Convention Center to exchange handguns for a $100 gift card to BP or Dave's Supermarket. As part of the program, officers did not ask questions about the guns during the five-hour event.

Officials said they weren't surprised by the big response because the city has not held a gun buyback for about 10 years. Deputy Chief Lester Fultz said officers distributed about 300 of 450 gift cards in the first 90 minutes. Those who turned out, he said, were moms, dads and grandparents trying to make the streets safer. The police destroyed the weapons after entering their serial numbers in a national database to determine if the guns were stolen. ArcelorMittal Steel donated about $35,000 to purchase the gift cards and teamed with Slavic Village Development Corp. to sponsor the buyback.

Last year Boston's "Aim for Peace" program netted 1027 weapons turned in during a month-long run offering a $200 gift card. $100,000 worth of Target vouchers were given in exchange for collected guns — $25,000 of which was donated by the city, the rest by Target, the Boston Red Sox, and other contributors. Rifles, shotguns, non-functioning guns, and some others were not eligible for the reward.

The New Haven police department removed more than 230 guns from the streets during their gun buyback program in August 2006. Springfield, IL collected 526 guns at their buyback on October 27, of this year. The Lake County (Illinois) Sheriff's office collected more than 200 firearms in their first buyback program in December 2001 offering a mere $50 gift certificate They repeated the program in 2002. The best program to date has been with the District of Columbia. Between August 1999 and December 2000, the Metropolitan Police conducted three separate gun buybacks collecting 6,253 firearms and paying out approximately $528,000. New Haven had tried a buyback program with a cash reward, not gift cards. Critics saw the cash reward as an opportunity for gun-totters to upgrade weapons such as buying new Glocks.

At this rate how many guns could be eliminated from circulation? 2002, the last year figures were given, reported an estimated 192 million privately owned firearms in the United States with 65 million of those being handguns. That same report said the there were 30,708 firearm related deaths in the U.S. in 1998. I don't think the National Rifle Association has anything to worry about; they should be more concerned that 17,504 of those deaths were suicides. What did Charleston Heston, former NRA president say? "I'll give up my gun when they pry it from my cold dead hands."

K.


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