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Letter America: Dear Southwest Airlines

Letter America Dear Southwest Airlines, I’m writing to complain about the unfair way I was treated on a recent flight from San Francisco to Phoenix. ... More

May 20, 2013 By Robert Wilder Comments 4
 
 
 

 

 
OLD 01.14.2013 4 Comments

Photos From Santa Fe's Gun Buyback

Guns, cops and money.

By Justin Horwath
img_8755 An odd scene emerged Saturday just after noon at the Santa Fe Police Department headquarters: citizens approaching SFPD Chief Raymond Rael with guns in hand.

Smoking a cigarette, Rael wasn't alarmed. 

Instead, he had to explain to people that if they want to sell those guns to the city, they'd have to waive their anonymity. SFPD had already given out all the $12,500 in Visa gift cards to citizens as a part of Santa Fe's first ever gun buyback program, and in order to recompense people, the police would need their contact information. 

Some gun owners rejected the offer but said they might be back for the planned Feb. 9 or March 9 buybacks. 

Others just sold the guns to a few dealers waiting outside the station to offer higher prices to the owners. One pamphlet circulating read: "THE CITY OF SANTA FE IS OFFERING LESS THAN FAIR MARKET VALUE IN ITS "GUN BUYBACK" PROGRAM." 

The pamphlet noted that the city offered $100 for rifles; $150 for handguns; and $200 for assault weapons. Chief Rael and other police officials were not impressed. 

But Rael said, "Nothing we can do to stop them." The chief is glad the guns aren't on the streets. "There's always some potential that these guns are hanging out in closets," he said. The concern about guns in closets: they could be stolen or used by a child.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the city had bought back 194 guns, including six assault weapons, and that the New Mexico History Museum will decide if any of the guns are worth saving. 

SFPD Evidence Manager Rich Bemis told SFR on Saturday that the guns would be destroyed, but the method was uncertain. "It's not like we have a machine out back," he said. 

Here are SFR's photos of the guns.

Police were most concerned about the assault rifles, center, including 2 AKA-47s and one SKS, according to Chief Rael.

Chief Rael said SFPD planned on opening the gun backback to the public around 9:00 am. But a line of cold citizens emerged well before 9:00 and officials opened the doors at about 8:35 am, said Rael.

After noon on Saturday, Chief Rael told SFR that 54 handguns had been turned in. "They're still coming," he said of the people selling their firearms.

 A wallet gun was among the more unusual firearms.

At top, a sawed-off shotgun, possession of which violates state and federal laws, depending on the length of the barrel. 

SFPD Evidence Manager Rich Bemis.

These are the types of high-capacity magazines City Councilor Patti Bushee wants to ban.

 Don't see many bayonets these days.

A Colt .38 Detective Special. Police told SFR these revolvers were favored by the detectives.

Bonnie Parker had a Colt .38 strapped to her thigh when police ambushed and killed Parker and her partner Clyde Barrow. Parker's .38 recently went up for auction

 A modern version of the Derringer pistol. John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln with a Derringer. 

A police official demonstrated that you don't need two hands to open the chamber of this pistol, center, which is why they were favored by calvary. Just snap the barrel against your thigh and reload. 

Chief Rael with State Rep. Brian Egolf Jr., D-Santa Fe. 

Front, some old bolt-action rifles.

 
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01.15.2013 at 08:22 | Reply |

Wonderful!  Only the world's biggest idiot would sell an operational assault rifle for $200.  Say, why doesn't the city try a "gold buyback" project?  The same soft-headed people people who gave up working weapons for dimes on the dollar might be interested in turning over all their "unneeded" gold for say, $100 an ounce.  That income, combined with the 4000 new jobs that Coss promised, could go a long way to helping Santa Fe be viable again.

 

01.16.2013 at 03:12

Another fad so in vogue.  

Some of the weapons are probably interesting from a historical perspective, too bad they will be destroyed.

The bolt guns... a total waste of money if reducing crime is the objective.  Very hard to stick one in your pocket and conceal it.  When was the last crime committed with a long gun of any stripe in Santa Fe?

The Colt Detective Special appears to be in tough shape but is now a classic of the type.  

Good luck on banning large magazines.  Tens of millions of them are out there and the black market will just make more money off the ones sold.  

The impotence of such law makes a fool out politicians who want to seem to be "doing something".  It makes criminals out of people who are not, at the stroke of a pen.  It encourages illegality and black markets.   And does virtually nothing to deter real criminals, most of whom usually are banned from having a firearm anyway.  They don't care about pious bans or gun-free zones.  

But it is the hip thing for pols now, part of the circus.  Much better to bloviate about this than face up to mundane, basic tasks of the job.  Not much photo-op bragging can be done about keeping potholes repaired and not spending money frivolously.       

 

01.28.2013 at 04:54

We have had a spate of banks being robbed by people holding WWII rifles with bayonets!  Thank goodness those weapons are off the street.  What a waste of taxpayers' money.  Who is responsible for this fiasco?

 

 

01.17.2013 at 10:29 | Reply |

PS:  There is no such thing as a "wallet gun".  Aren't your "reporters" embarrassed to sign their names to articles they have obviously done no research on whatsoever?  That "wallet gun" is simply a small pistol of the sort a concealed carry permit holder would use, stored in a holster that allows for removal and firing in one motion, without the user having to unholster the weapon.  Even the most anti-gun sorts are no doubt aware that the community of people who have been granted concealed carry permits are inordinately law-abiding.  I challenge anyone to name an instance where a concealed carry permit holder used their weapon to commit mass murder.  As Kearfott pointed out, criminals don't mind breaking gun laws.  Breaking laws is what they do.  In fact, the Sandy Hook shooter broke four existing CT gun laws before he fired a single shot on school premises.  Apparently, he was not so full of remorse at having broken those laws that he couldn't carry out his attack... 

 

 
 
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