San Francisco Trades Guns for Gift Cards

[Don Buckbee]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314531,00.html

San Francisco Trades Guns for Gift Cards
Sunday, December 02, 2007



SAN FRANCISCO — A man carrying a semiautomatic handgun approached a group of San Francisco police officers Saturday afternoon and, with a smile, handed over the pistol in exchange for $150 in gift cards.

"I used to fire it at bottles or do some plinking in the woods," said the gun's owner, 48-year-old Bruce Bourne. "But I have a 6-year-old daughter now and my wife was uncomfortable with it being in the house."

For a few hours on a sunny yet brisk Saturday, San Francisco police officers accepted 100 guns from about 80 people in the city's second "Gifts for Guns" event. The first event in July brought in 117 handguns and 2 shotguns.

The idea is to make the streets seem a little safer when the city's murder rate has risen in recent years — San Francisco has had at least 89 homicides so far this year.

Among the 100 guns collected Saturday were 4 assault rifles and two sawed-off shotguns, said Mikail Ali, director of the mayor's office of criminal justice.

As Ali discussed the city's efforts to curb violence another man walked up with a large, black gun case. He took out a black assault rifle with a folding stock and pistol grip and turned it in.

"Twenty years ago you could buy a gun like that legally in California. Some were registered properly, some weren't," Ali said.

California law makes owning an assault weapon illegal, but Gifts for Guns allows people to turn in their firearms without showing identification, and officials promise not to ask any questions about the guns' origins.

Once in police custody the guns are checked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to see if they were stolen. Ali said 99 percent of the guns recovered are destroyed and, if the guns were stolen, they are returned to their owners if possible.

Participants received $100 gift cards for rifles or shotguns, $150 cards for revolvers or semiautomatic pistols and $200 cards for assault-type weapons like AK-47s.

But not everyone participating in the gun program Saturday believed it was helpful.

Peter Buxtun, a 70-year-old gun advocate, turned in two pistols Saturday that he said were worthless. He collected $300 in gift cards.

"You can buy junk guns for $10 and then use the gift cards to buy new guns," he said. "I saw a half-dozen uniformed SF police officers taken off the street to sit for hours in a City Hall photo-op, instead of patrolling certain drug-ridden and gang-infested neighborhoods."

[Bruce FLinch]

Had I known, I would have driven down to trade in my old Sterling .22
( worth=$40.-maybe )

This part of the article was not printed in the article in my paper this am.

But not everyone participating in the gun program Saturday believed it was helpful.
" Peter Buxtun, a 70-year-old gun advocate, turned in two pistols Saturday that he said were worthless. He collected $300 in gift cards.

"You can buy junk guns for $10 and then use the gift cards to buy new guns," he said. "I saw a half-dozen uniformed SF police officers taken off the street to sit for hours in a City Hall photo-op, instead of patrolling certain drug-ridden and gang-infested neighborhoods." "

[22WRF]

This part of the article was not printed in the article in my paper this am.

Just a bit creative editing by the thought police

[358 winchester]

I have a few here just waiting for the day

[Pistolenschutze]

I have a Raven that would be better off melted down.

[Marlin T]

This scam sounds like an overall winning bet, even though there are some that would rake you over the coals like 358 and Pistol said.


Hmmm, this gets me wondering how to set one of these scams up. I'm sure there are gulable people in this town too.

[Mystery7s]

They did a trade like that in North Las Vegas before in a walmart shopping center. I think it was for walmart gift cards. Dont quote me on it though it was a couple years ago.

I have an old pos Haskell, but it works better than a rock. I really hope that the trades get the stolen guns back to the owners that lost them.

But does that tell the thieves that they get a payday at the end of the year if they steal more????

[22WRF]

I'll take a $150 gift card for this one

[Bruce FLinch]

Originally Posted by Mystery7s

But does that tell the thieves that they get a payday at the end of the year if they steal more????

Good point, Mystery. When I told my wife about the article, she mentioned that aspect.

[ponycar17]

They were doing this locally in SC for $50 gift cards. They were even collecting air rifles and pistols... If I had known about it I would have bought up a half-dozen Marksman air pistols for ~$20 each and racked up...

[Silencer]

They don't do this sort of thing here in SoCal anymore. The local cops know the gang bangers or others wont show up, but they do know the FFL holders will.

An old coworker who had a FFL read in the news paper about one these 'guns for cash' police things. So, he called and asked how many pistols could he bring in. They said fifty. He brought fifty, at a cost of $32 a piece, an traded them for $100 each.

So, $32 x 50 = $1,600 investment

Traded for 50 x $100 = $5,000

Profit $5,000 - $1,600 = $3,400

With that money, he purchased a new set of high performance tires for his Corvette.