The following article was originally published by Illinois Review.
Forget the fact that gun-related crime has declined since 1993. Forget that 40-45% of American households own guns, and there are over 270 million guns in America. Forget that 99.87% of these guns are not used to commit crimes.[1]
Some say that just as food causes obesity, guns cause crime. That’s why both need to be strictly regulated. Forget strengthening the family, inculcating proper respect for life, teaching the proper use of firearms, or reducing the time between a crime and its punishment. These “solutions” imply that a person actually chooses to commit a crime, while we all know they’re the helpless victims of society. They can’t help it; they must be protected from themselves. Take away the gun. Problem solved.
Or is it?
Last week the Champaign-based group Guns Save Life showed the logical disconnect of a recent initiative to target guns. In the spirit of Cash for Clunkers, Cash for Fridges, and its illustrious spinoffs there emerged Cash for Firearms.
If you were a local hood strolling the Chicago streets, all you needed to do was hitch up your pants with your left hand, hand over your gun with your right hand, and collect a $100 gift card for your trouble. Every time a gun takes wing, a former owner gets some bling.
Though a total of 5,500 guns were relinquished, the number of would-be armed assailants that actually took part is unclear. They can, however, be classified as “criminals saved or created.”
After all, even if all the participants had turned out to be murderous punks, they would still have $100 apiece to put toward another weapon should a murderous rage ensnare them. And guns are readily available on the black market.
While the program designers were patently optimistic about its outcome, some citizens had their doubts. As John Boch of Guns Save Life was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times, “If you were a criminal, you would be a fool to go there with the police presence. What criminal would turn in the tool he uses to do his trade for a $100 card?”
The effort wasn’t an entire dud, however. Members of Guns Save Life gathered and turned in 60 unusable firearms and several BB guns, netting a $6,240 payback. They then invested the money in a cause close to their hearts—equipment and proper training in the use of guns at an NRA youth camp. Finally, a program we can believe in!
[1] 99.87% was calculated by dividing the number of annual crimes involving a gun (340,000) by the total number of guns in the U.S. (270 million), and subtracting this from 100%.