gun buyback
A new gun buyback program in Seattle and King County is the first since 1992 in response to a spike in homicides in the city. That year there were 60 murders in Seattle. (AP Photo/file)

Seattle, King County officials launch new gun buyback program

BY Chris Sullivan  on January 8, 2013 @ 5:24 am (Updated: 5:36 pm - 1/8/13 )

Seattle and King County are launching a new Gun Safety Initiative that includes a gun buyback program in hopes of reducing the number of firearms in the community.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and other law enforcement, health and community leaders announced the the new initiative Tuesday morning in Seattle.

McGinn says the program is modeled after other programs across the country. People will be allowed to anonymously turn in their unwanted weapons in exchange for a gift card valued at up to $100.00 for hand guns, shot guns and rifles. Assault weapons will be worth up to a $200.00 gift card. Officials say law enforcement officials will not take pictures of participants, track their license plates or run ballistic tests on the guns turned in.

"This gun buyback program can help us protect public health and safety and reduce gun violence in our communities," said McGinn.

Seattle last had a buyback program in 1992 in response to a spike in homicides in the city. That year there were 60 murders in Seattle.

The city recovered 1,200 weapons in just four days, paying out $60,000.

The buyback, however, did little to curb the violence. The number of homicides went up in 1993 and 1994.

The first new gun buyback will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2013, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, in downtown Seattle in the parking lot underneath Interstate 5 between Cherry and James Streets.

The Seattle Police Department will also partner with other law enforcement agencies in King County and community and faith based organizations to set up other gun buyback locations throughout Seattle and King County, where individuals can turn in firearms anonymously and with no questions asked.

"If we can prevent just one child, one innocent bystander, from being the victim of a random accident, or the target of an unstable person, it will be well worth our time and effort," said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

The effectiveness of such programs has been debated, but they very well might save lives, supporters said, and at worst can't do any harm.

The program was announced on the two-year anniversary of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting that killed six people and left then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured. It also came a month after a gunman in Newtown, Conn., opened fire in an elementary school, killing 20 children and six adults.

"This isn't a trick, and this isn't a sting. Whether you're turning an anti-tank missile launcher you `found' in your basement, or your Gammie's old .45, the buyback is anonymous with no questions asked," the police department said in a statement.

Amazon.com, which has been expanding its headquarters in Seattle, kicked in $30,000 in Amazon gift cards. In an emailed statement, the company said only that it thanked Seattle Mike McGinn for the invitation to participate and that it was happy to do so.

The Seattle Police Foundation donated $25,000, Seattle-based search engine optimization software company SEOmoz gave $10,000 and PEMCO insurance committed $5,000. That money will be used for gift cards from other retail or grocery stores.

By Tuesday afternoon, additional donors had come forward, with entrepreneur Nick Hanauer and his wife giving $25,000 and the University of Washington Medical Center pledging $10,000. That brought the total for the program to $108,000, the mayor's office said.

A similar gun-buyback program in Los Angeles last month netted more than 2,000 weapons, including 901 handguns and two rocket launchers.

McGinn and Constantine said the buyback program isn't designed as a panacea but as one tool to reduce gun violence. If a single shooting never materializes because of it, the effort will have been worth it, they said.

But Dave Workman, senior editor at The Gun Mag, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation, described such programs as political theater that doesn't make anyone safer.

He pointed to a 2004 study by the National Research Council. It questioned the effectiveness of such programs, saying the weapons typically turned in are those least likely to be used in criminal activities, guns are so readily available that the programs have little practical effect, and with tens of millions of handguns in circulation in the U.S., the odds any particular weapon will be used in a crime are minuscule.

"We've had a history of these gun buybacks around the country, and they really haven't done anything," Workman said.

Metz argued that getting unwanted guns out of the community is a laudable goal: It means they won't be involved in an accidental shooting or stolen and used in a crime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (97)


  • Add A Comment

  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    how many anti-depressants are city "leaders" on?
    January 8, 2013 5:14 am
    let's buy back those drugs that they are taking. That would actually do something to make us safer.

    BOYCOTT AMAZON

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CountryCharacter wrote...
    Agreed - Mental Health & Drugs
    January 8, 2013 8:25 am
    Guns are not the new variable. It is harder than ever to get a gun through legal means. But nearly every mass killer was mentally ill and was or had been on a prescription drug. So rather than deal with the real problem and criminals, the knee jerk response is to clamp down on law abiding citizens. Great "logic."
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • USMC0311 wrote...
    How is this anti-gun?
    January 8, 2013 12:33 pm
    No one is forcing anyone to take part in this program. This is NOT anti-gun. By the way, I bought AR parts from Amazon.com for my own gun collection so I'm not too sure this anti Amazon crap holds any water.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @USMC
    January 8, 2013 9:26 pm
    It IS anti-gun. Just look at the way they've carelessly chucked some beautiful hardware (I know, most are junk, but I saw some nice ones)into a barrel like so much garbage. Talk about a lack of respect.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Newton wrote...
    Its guns that make everbody safe.
    January 9, 2013 12:47 am
    Are freedoms in this country started with the red coats trying to take away are guns. More guns equale less crime. Only Criminals want gun control. Sandy Hook was all fake photo oppeation no security photos of any kind of this happening. kids did not hear any gun fire. Once they take your guns they will take your rights your home and everything else. History is there for you to view don't be so stupid. Chicago has some the worst crime because of its no gun policy after they take your guns crime goes up a proven fact. The news never says much about the gun owner taking on a home intruder or the deputy that was at movie theater when a gunman walked in and the deputy shot him before he could hurt anyone else. That happend in Texas. Just remeber that criminals love gun control and the satistics prove this correct. Join the NRA to protect your rights.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Concerned US Citizen wrote...
    Bye Bye Amazon
    January 8, 2013 5:40 am
    Supporting an anti 2nd admendment feel good project and you want me to continue to do business with you? Sorry Amazon but I have made my last purchase from you!! I will be sure my fellow NRA members know what you stand for!! I dropped Progressive Insurance because the owner is anti gun.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    SInce When....
    January 8, 2013 7:42 am
    ...does offering to buy you guns mean they are anti 2nd Amendment?

    This looks to be capitalism. A private entity is giving you some thing of value for your gun. What happens to it is immaterial after that. Nobody took it away by force or coercion.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • otherpointofview wrote...
    i wouldn't say Amazon is anti gun
    January 8, 2013 8:21 am
    Amazon sells plenty of firearm related items.. i wouldn't go so far as to say that they're anti gun/2nd amendment. Now if they said, we're not selling any more firearm related products..then yeah..go for it boycott them.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • USMC0311 wrote...
    How is this anti 2nd amendment?
    January 8, 2013 12:39 pm
    You're just as bad as a liberal knee jerker.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    $$$$
    January 8, 2013 5:46 am
    I have 3 very old rifles that do not work. I plan on being first in line!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RonJ wrote...
    I have an old
    January 8, 2013 10:56 am
    rusty .410 bolt action that would better be used as a boat anchor. I'm a-gonna screw a grip to the forearm and turn it in as an "assault" weapon. Woo-hooo! 200.00 here I come
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Ron J
    January 8, 2013 3:51 pm
    Why did you keep this 410 in your possession?Do you also store old dynamite in your basement and old rat poison in the attic?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Fact check the news KIRO
    January 8, 2013 5:52 am
    This morning, KIRO keeps reporting that Los Angeles got two rocket launchers during it's buy-back program. The fact is that one of the "launchers" was a demo that the Army uses to show new recruits what they look like. The other “launcher” was a single use weapon that had already been fired.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    Did Kiro Say Rockets Were Acquired?
    January 8, 2013 7:43 am
    Nope.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hawks$life wrote...
    tight! upgrade time
    January 8, 2013 5:56 am
    Maybe I could get enough from this old SKS to upgrade to an AK with hi-cap mags! Or pay for my new AR build. Brownells has 10 packs of P-mags for $125! Or, if you have an old gun you want to sell, post it on your friendly local gun forum and sell it to a responsible enthusiast
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    They need more homicides...come on lets get those numbers up
    January 8, 2013 6:04 am
    Since the homicides went up in the two years following the last buyback, their goal must be to increase homicides. More homicides and fewer citizens able to protect themselves = more power for the elite "leaders".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • seacougr wrote...
    Gun Buyback for Seattle
    January 8, 2013 6:25 am
    What a pathetic joke !!! Like this is really going to solve something.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle is a cesspool wrote...
    Mind bending...
    January 8, 2013 6:49 am
    The photo shows only semi auto rifles. How misleading and sad. The media is trying to jam this anti gun rhetoric down our throats.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sambra27 wrote...
    any numbers...
    January 8, 2013 7:08 am
    To support if gun buyback programs have ever contributed to a declinein crime associated with guns, ever? I can understand this approach for people who have a gun or two that will never be used and just want to pocket a little cash, but headlining this with "making the community safer" is misleading, as it is voluntary and the amount of guns it actually takes out of the hands of criminals cannot be quantified.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    Great!!!
    January 8, 2013 7:26 am
    I've got a worn out .22 pistol that is no longer safe to use and not economical to repair. Now I can get money for it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Robin C wrote...
    haha
    January 8, 2013 10:42 am
    Now I would do that!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • NW observer wrote...
    Gun buyback
    January 8, 2013 7:26 am
    Seattle city government is totally predictable. Now it's a repeat of an idea that was tried twenty years ago and was a failure. " Do something, even if it's wrong" should be their motto. It certainly fits their actions.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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