LA County buyback nets 365 guns

AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

Los Angeles County is the largest county by population in the United States. It boasts over 10 million people, all living in a single county. If they were a country, they’d be the 91st largest nation by population, having more people than nations like Hungary, Switzerland, and Austria.

Advertisement

So, when they have a gun buyback event, you need to keep those population numbers in mind.

After all, when you’ve got more than 10 million people, it’s unlikely that 365 guns are even going to be noticed.

Authorities removed 365 guns off the streets in a gun buyback event in Lynwood this weekend, officials said.

The gun buyback Saturday at the parking lot of the Metro Park and Ride in Lynwood was sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office in partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Community Advisory Council.

“This was a success,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “There are 365 fewer guns that can be used in a violent crime or a tragic accident in our communities. I am grateful to everyone who came out today and turned in a weapon. It was the right thing to do and your families and your community are safer because of it.”

I wonder if Hahn would be as excited if she found out that some of those guns that have been turned in were used in crimes and would have made a key piece of evidence if not for the buyback.

I mean, we keep hearing about how gun tracing is so absolutely vital in solving violent crimes, so important in fact that we should completely gut the Second Amendment to help facilitate tracing, then we see events like this that are yet another case where tracing goes out the window.

Then there’s the fact that we have studies that show buybacks simply don’t work–and don’t get me started on how there’s nothing for the government to buy back.

Advertisement

What this is really about is performative politics. It’s about looking like you’re doing something without actually having to do anything.

After all, actually trying to address violent crime would involve hard work and may not give county supervisors the opportunity to jump in front of reporters and tell them just how awesome she is.

Really, that’s what these events are truly about. They allow people such as Hahn to pretend to be addressing the violence in their communities without having to actually do anything of substance.

This is 365 firearms in a county of more than 10 million people. That’s more than half the nations of the planet, and you mean to tell me that a few hundred guns will make any appreciable difference in violent crime there? You’ve got a better shot of convincing me that Amy Schumer is funny.

But people like Hahn don’t care about results. They care about appearances.

If they cared about results, they wouldn’t be trying to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and they wouldn’t be trying to make it easier for criminals to dump the weapons they’ve used in violent crimes.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Sponsored