Gun buybacks are a waste of time. They don’t get guns from the people who represent a real threat to the general public…except when a crook needs to dump a gun “no questions asked.”

Concealed carry, on the other hand, empowers individuals to protect themselves. While it’s not a guarantee that crime will be stopped, it does help.

The two things, however, usually don’t have much of anything to do with one another.

Yet sometimes, they do.

Wilkinsburg Police are trading gift cards for guns.

This Saturday at a gun buyback event a the Wilkinsburg Borough Building, residents can trade in their guns for Giant Eagle gift cards and others.

Those taking guns will get a $50 gift card for a handgun and a $25 one for a rifle.

Big money.

Now, ordinarily, if I bothered to mention a buyback, it would be to talk about how useless they are. However, this one in Wilkinsburg is a little different. Why? Because Wilkinsburg is in Allegheny County in Pennsylvania.

Allegheny County is currently facing a lawsuit because they not issuing concealed carry permits.

So, let me get this straight. COVID-19 is such a horrible and dangerous threat to life that you can’t issue concealed carry permits, something which helps people exercise a constitutional right, but having a gun buyback event is perfectly fine?

Really?

Honestly, this is downright infuriating.

Ordinary citizens in the country are unable to get the permit they need in order to lawfully carry a firearm. Violence is on the rise throughout the nation, so I can see why a lot of people would want to start carrying now. Further, there are a ton of new gun owners all over the nation. That includes Allegheny County.

They’re left in limbo, unsure of when they’ll be able to lawfully carry a firearm.

Meanwhile, the exact same area has no problem spending taxpayer money to take part in a gun buyback event–if the police are involved, taxpayer money is involved, regardless of who funds the gift cards themselves. It’s kind of hard not to get upset at the blatant disrespect toward law-abiding citizens’ gun rights.

Now, in fairness, the Wilkinsburg Police Department isn’t the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office. They’re two different law enforcement agencies, so ordinarily, the actions of one wouldn’t have much of an impact on what another opts to do. However, this is the same area where COVID-19 is such a horrid threat. You’d think that if it were that dangerous, even the mask requirements for the buyback would be insufficient.

What it really tells you is that the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office could probably continue handling permits if it wanted to, they just don’t want to.

Then again, this is the Pittsburg area, where Mayor Bill Peduto and the city council continue to walk free after blatantly and intentionally ignoring state law. I’m pretty sure there aren’t enough people in the area willing to call the sheriff to task over his nonsense.

Meanwhile, if you want a pathetically small sum of money on a gift card for a store you may not even shop at, Wilkinsburg has you covered. Too bad the criminals aren’t going to show up to do anything but dump murder weapons.