Nearly a thousand firearms dropped off voluntarily over the weekend in exchange for gift cards for food and clothes. Wow. Did anyone expect that many guns to be given back?
Now .. combine that with the overwhelming number of folks who turned themselves in as part of "Fugitive Safe Surrender" over the summer.
While both make great headlines and draw major community praise, I really don't even know how to quantify it.
Should I feel safer because there's fewer guns and accused criminals on the streets? Should I feel scared because now it's obvious that there are a lot more guns and accused criminals on our streets than many of us thought? Should I just feel enlightened?
Certainly not everyone dropping off a firearm had any illegal intentions ... nor are there guarantees that removing those weapons will prevent any crimes ... but nevertheless, folks who possessed these guns thought them best to give them up. It's a move that might make a gun inaccessible to curious kids ... or to someone who would shoot at police .. at least according to a Chief Deputy from the Sheriff's Office.
Certainly not everyone who surrendered was accused of a violent crime .. or in it's most basic component, not all of them are a threat to offend again, but rather many would like to clear up their mistakes and get it behind them.
Anyone else pleasantly surprised by the programs' success but perplexed on how to apply it to their our daily living here in Akron?
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I've thought a lot about gun buy backs and I'm still not sure whether they are a good thing or not.
I was relieved that some of the guns returned (according to the newspaper) were "found" somewhere in the house and the owners seemingly didn't know about them. That is really a dangerous situation. That's how little kids get hurt or killed.
But the criminal element still has their guns.
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