Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn celebrated the results of her 13th annual gun buyback program over the weekend. The incident took place in an empty parking lot in Torrance, and 256 firearms were brought in using an estimated $20,000 in taxpayer-funded gift cards. Some of the weapons were rusted and unusable, and their owners were happy to unload them on Los Angeles taxpayers.
She was delighted.
There are now 2,000 fewer guns in closets and bedrooms across Los Angeles County that could be found by a child, accidentally fired, or stolen and used to kill in a crime. So all the work we've done to bring buybacks to residents is worth it.
There is no evidence that such propaganda has any effect on gun violence, and it has precious little effect on suicide.
Her stunt has been going on since early 2022 and has cost Los Angeles taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. They brought a total of 2,052 guns. But are these stock buybacks really a good thing?
In December 2022, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) released research on that very question: Do gun buybacks have a measurable impact on gun violence? After all, it is the price of goods sold to the taxpayers who are funding the farce.
The authors of the NEBR study concluded:
Using data from the National Incident Based Reporting System, we found no evidence that GBP (Gun Buyback Program) reduces gun crime….
Using data from the National Vital Statistics System, we found no evidence that GBP reduces firearm-involved suicides or homicides.
data
It is estimated that there are approximately 20 million privately owned firearms in California. 10 percent of the state's population lived in LA. Therefore, it is reasonable to calculate that 2 million of them are in Hearn's County.
If you do the math, Hearn's taxpayer-funded Kabuki Theater is taking 0.001 percent of its total value from the closets of happy gun owners who are willing to take advantage of Hearn's generosity and take advantage of other people's money. It must have been taken from outside the city.
However, she continued to assert her belief in this myth.
These buybacks demonstrate time and time again that many people have dangerous weapons in their homes that they no longer need, but don't have an easy and convenient way to dispose of them. This is your chance. They want to play a role in making their homes and communities safer.
Journalist Steve Scougillo wrote about the incident in the Press-Telegram and had to ask questions that no one wanted to answer, including the LAPD, the county commission, or her office.
So will removing 2,052 guns from homes, out of a total of about 20 million guns in the state, make a difference? Will these gun buyback events reduce rates of suicide, accidental shootings, and gun violence in L.A. County?
The RAND study answered his question. “Although the ultimate goal of most (gun) buyback programs is to reduce gun violence and crime, few studies have demonstrated that these programs have such an effect. , suggesting limited success in targeting high-risk individuals and guns.
Increase in gun crime
In fact, the opposite appears to be true. In fact, gun-related crime in neighborhoods following a gun buyback program increases in the months that follow. NBER writes: “Additionally, we found some evidence of small, short-term increases in gun crime in the two months following the GBP. may be emboldened by the realization that “physical force is less likely.'' ” (Emphasis in original.)
The NBER authors concluded: “Our results suggest that the US pound is an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars.”
Not only has Hahn wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars on this initiative, but these 13 programs she has implemented since the beginning of 2022 have increased the risk of local residents becoming victims of gun-related crimes.
However, Hearn played the important role brilliantly. The authors of a 2013 study of a gun buyback program in Buffalo, New York, noted success in one particular area. They wrote:
Given the empirical evidence, police agencies may be using gun buyback programs to meet public expectations rather than in hopes of reducing violent crime. When a serious crime problem arises, mayors and police chiefs face pressure from their constituents to “do something dramatic and effective'' against violence.
Hahn succeeded in that. Her recent “success” in trading 256 non-functioning and useless firearms, using more than $20,000 in taxpayer money, made headlines in the Press-Telegram. The daily newspaper has a weekday readership of just over 40,000 people, which jumps to up to 60,000 on Sundays.
