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Share Your Thoughts: Do Gun Buyback Programs Work? If they don't, why not use them anyway as community outreach? We have several ways for you to be part of this story. ....Share your comments at the bottom of this page .....Take part in our webpoll at the right.
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In recent days billboards have been put up around the city proclaiming the date, but no details of the exact buyback locations are public. The billboards refer to the city's website where a complete site search Wednesday morning revealed only information on past year's efforts.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says formal details have not been finalized, and an official announcement will be forthcoming.
"We see it as crime prevention but we also see it as community outreach...It is just one tool, one strategy, that our police department uses to make the city safer."
- Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.
"We hold the program because we are trying to get illegal guns out of the hands of criminals who might hurt someone." he says adding that since 2005 the city's gun buyback program has taken 8,800 guns off city streets.
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Buffalo City Council Pres. Rich Fontana |
Prof. Alex Taborrok, George Mason Univ. |
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with WBEN's Eric Reinhardt
Do Gun Buyback Programs Work?Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Critics of gun buyback programs say they don't work when it comes to fighting violent crime. The mayor of Jersey City, NJ and the organizer of New Orleans' gun buyback program say anytime guns are off the streets, it helps.
"I'd be exaggerating if I said there was a direct link between gun buy back programs and the reduction in crime rates," concedes Jerremiah Healy, Jersey City Mayor. His city has had three successful gun buyback programs in the last 15 months, bringing nearly 500 guns off the streets of his city.
"The studies are ambiguous" as to whether gun buyback programs reduce crime, but Healy thinks it can't hurt. "They have to help make our streets safer. That's my opinion regardless what studies show."
New Orleans recently retrieved some 400 guns during a gun buyback in May. Sgt. LJ Smith says, "Any gun that's unneeded and unnecessary can potentially lead to a bad situation." Smith believes in some sense, "any guns being taken away and off the street and put in the right places do potentially stop crime."
