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http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/437328.html
City readies new buyback of firearms
By Brian Meyer NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 09/12/08 6:53 AM
The mother of a 16-year-old youth who was fatally shot in July after he left a teen dance wept Thursday when city officials announced a gun buyback program was being dedicated to her son and other murder victims.
Maura Evans clutched a teddy bear, saying the bespectacled stuffed animal reminded her of her son, Matthew L. Elliott, who was an innocent bystander when a fight erupted on East Utica Street. Matthew was killed by a stray bullet. Police are still looking for the shooter.
Evans said she knows the buyback program won’t rid Buffalo’s streets of all illegal guns. Even Buffalo’s police commissioner wryly stated that he doesn’t expect many criminals to be lining up outside seven local churches Sept. 27 to turn in their weapons for prepaid cash cards.
“But it’s a beginning,” Evans said of the buyback. “We have to start somewhere, so why not start here. If even one gun is taken of the street, it’s worth it.”
During the city’s most recent buyback 15 months ago, 878 weapons were turned in. Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson said many weapons are stolen during home break-ins, so he is convinced buy-backs make communities safer. None of last year’s weapons was tested, said Police Department spokesman Michael J. De- George, so officials cannot say whether any had been used in crimes.
Mayor Byron W. Brown said he hopes the “no questions asked” buyback will result in even more guns being turned in than last year. He said the Police Department will have adequate staff at all drop-off centers, which will be open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., to prevent the kind of long lines that formed outside some sites last year.
Brown said he was gratified that so many people, including mothers and grandmothers, turned in weapons last year.
“If you see a weapon that a loved one has that you know is illegal, Sept. 27 is the day to bring these guns in,” Brown said.
City Comptroller Andrew A. SanFilippo said JPMorgan Chase & Co. will provide cash cards without charging a customary service fee. The buyback is being financed by $50,000 in assets forfeited through seizures from drug investigations and other crimes, so the program won’t take a bite out of the city’s budget.
An Uzi, AK-47 or other assault weapon can be traded in for a $100 cash card. Handguns will command $75, while rifles and shotguns have a $50 trade-in value. The Police Department will give $10 cash cards for nonworking or antique guns, including pellet guns and BB guns.
The same seven drop-off sites that were used in last year’s buyback will be accepting weapons:
• Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard, 96 Jewett Parkway.
• Prince of Peace Christian Church, 190 Albany St.
• Primera United Methodist Church, 62 Virginia St.
• St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 450 Abbott Road.
• True Bethel Baptist Church, 907 E. Ferry St.
• St. John Baptist Church, 184 Goodell St.
• St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 256 Riverside Ave.
Lamar Outdoor Advertising is donating billboard space to promote the buyback, while the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority will display posters in bus shelters.
Ah, liberals! Results and outcomes just don't matter as long as what you're doing makes you feel good! What a shameful fleecing of the Buffalo city taxpayers.
