NRA Vows To Stop Tucson From Destroying Guns

[onehandle]

Last edited Wed Jan 9, 2013, 10:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: NPR

"I've been getting threats," Kozachik says. "I've been getting emails. I've been getting phone calls in the office trying to shut this thing down or 'We're going to sue you' or 'Who do you think you are?' " Todd Rathner, an Arizona lobbyist and a national board member of the NRA, may sue. He has no problem with the gun buyback, but he does have a problem with the fate of the guns once police take possession of them.

"We do believe that it is illegal for them to destroy those guns," he says. Rathner says Arizona state law forces local governments to sell seized or abandoned property to the highest bidder.

A line of people with guns formed in front of the midtown Tucson police station well before the 9 a.m. starting time for the buyback. At a command post in the parking lot, officers checked weapons to make sure they hadn't been stolen or used in a crime, and took the guns. The people who turned them in got a $50 Safeway gift card for every gun — money donated by the grocery chain and by private contributors.

Anna Jolivet had four old rifles she didn't want: "They belonged to my husband, and he passed away four years ago, and I haven't had any success in having someone take them off of me since then. So I thought this is a good time to turn them in." That's exactly what Republican Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik expected when he asked the police to do the buyback. What he didn't expect was the response after he announced the event.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/09/168926749/nra-vows-to-stop-tuscon-from-destroying-guns`

---

A Republican... A REPUBLICAN GETS THREATS FROM GUN NUTS!

This is how OVER gun nuts are in America. Your. Time. Is. Over.

[Confusious]

1. Won't anyone think of the guns?

What have these guns ever done to you that you want to destroy them?

The poor, poor guns.

PS.

Rathner says Arizona state law forces local governments to sell seized or abandoned property to the highest bidder.

They weren't seized, they weren't abandoned. They were bought by charities.

[MightyMopar]

2. Rachel Maddow tonite on TRMS said the "NRA jumped the shark"

Showed they had the worst return on investment of any rightwing group in the last election.

[benld74]

3. STate law my ass. These buy backs have been happening off and on for YEARS now,

the ONLY diference is WHAT has been happening recently, HOW the people have reacted to it, and how THIS administration has reacted to the happenings. The NRA can't stop what happens to the guns after a buy back. All they are doing is what the GOP does-YELL alot, YELL loud and keep yelling until somebody notices them.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. The laws vary from state to state

And the AZ law looks pretty clear to me though I am not a member of the bar

[AtheistCrusader]

19. This is about an Arizona state law.

I think the outpouring of support is bizarre at best, and downright insulting and dangerous at worst, but the law of that state DOES require they sell the guns, and not destroy them.

Simple solution till the legislature can fix it: shove that funding over to a private entity for the buybacks (like VPC or some other pro-control org) and have THEM melt them down, without the police taking possession of them. Done.

[Squinch]

4. The NRA folks must stay up nights thinking of how to be ever more twisted and craven.

Can't we just say, "It's a fucking buyback program, dumbasses!"

[Vincardog]

5. The city should weld the triggers to the magazines and plug the barrels then sent them to the NRA

[neverforget]

6. Words fail.....Forget that. The NRA is run by LUNATICS.

[obama2terms]

7. WTF

The NRA is acting if people were forced to do this, unless these guns were stolen from those people then getting rid of them is perfectly legal.

[Archae]

9. The NRA is only, and I mean ONLY, a gun sales promotion outfit.

They don't give a damn about freedom, or hunting, or target practice.

They are a gun manufacturers' whore.

[pipoman]

12. Why wouldn't gun manufacturers want the guns destroyed?

[Archae]

13. Because it might get more popular than they prefer.

Guns were destroyed, people didn't buy any to replace them.

[pipoman]

21. Nonsense

If somebody buys a used gun, they aren't buying a new one with that money..no, manufacturers aren't going to expend one ounce of their political capitol on this issue..this has nothing at all to do with manufacturers..the way many around here proclaim the powers of gun manufacturers, you would think it was huge business while the fact all US gun manufacturers revenues combined wouldn't make the fortune 500. The power behind the NRA are the 4 million or so individual members most of whom vote..maybe if the ACLU didn't ignore this one civil liberty the NRA wouldn't have the following they do..but alas..

[bowens43]

10. Is there anyone dumber then a gun nut?

If there is, I haven't met them.........

[pipoman]

11. Is "buy back" accurate?

Seems for a "buy back" to occur, the buyer would have to originally sold the item. More like a "buy up" or just a "buy"..

[Tempest]

14. The guns are neither seized nor abandoned

The law doesn't apply to buyback programs.

[caseymoz]

15. That's what I immediately observed.

It would set a bad precedent if buying became the legal equivalent of "seizing" and if selling was equated with abandoning.

With every passing day since the Newtown Massacre, gun-nuts have made themselves look worse and worse.

[Tempest]

16. Gun nuts have seen they have no political power anymore and are fighting back

The NRA got the worst bang for their buck in political spending in the last election.

Someone else just posted about it.

[vinny9698]

17. So if they seized a ton of cocaine, it would have to be auctioned off

Would this also apply to drugs?

[blackspade]

18. On Noes!!!

Those poor innocent guns will be killed!



It's like these idiots think guns are people with 'rights.'

[Kolesar]

20. DU Gungeoneers like to ridicule gun buy back programs

There is one of them on this thread making snotty remarks about terminology.

[pipoman]

22. And gun controllers

actually think buying broken handguns and tomato-stake shotguns worth $50 for $200 with public money is just brilliant and effective. I wish there was one near me..I have a few $50 shotguns I would let go for $200..

[Kolesar]

23. &You belong to the complementary set: the "out of control" people ...

...if you believe that there should be no gun control.

[pipoman]

29. I just believe we

pretty much have our bases covered with the 20,000 laws, rules, and regulations already on arms..there may be a few tweeks...buying junk guns for big money is idiotic

[bullwinkle428]

26. So it's a "fiscal responsibility" argument? Bwah-hah-hah! We all know how

"responsible" the right is when it comes to fiscal issues!

[pipoman]

30. ?

Who's the right? What are you talking about? I am only speaking of the idiocy of paying a bunch of money out for junk guns...and then melting them down? All of them? What if one of those guns that comes in is a 1917 Lugar? Potentially thousands of dollars to a Lugar collector? Are they going to melt it down too? Where does this money come from that it is so never ending that they wouldn't cash in to fund picking up a few hundred more guns? No, it sounds like some sort of weird symbolism with complete disregard for remedial budget considerations, what with the 100-150 million guns in private hands..frankly I think the number is way higher..If it is a private group buying them, whatever floats their...if it is public money being spent then collectively they are one person pissing on a forest fire..

[2ndAmForComputers]

31. If they're so worthless...

...why is destroying them such a big deal?

[pipoman]

33. see #29 and 30

[jambo101]

24. Gun nuts

I'm starting to see similarities between these gun nuts and heroine addicts in the similar behaviour when threatened with taking away the source of addiction.
I never really gave much thought to gun huggers and their guns until recently when the obvious regulation was going to come down after the school massacre curtailing the use of semi automatic weaponry and 30-90 round magazines.
Well havent our gun lovers just gone totally off the deep end with some of the most bizarre rationalizations for unregulated weapons ownership.
Seems like its a nation wide hissy fit perpetrated by a bunch of Rambo wannabe's who are using guns to make up for other physical shortcomings..

[Javaman]

25. Drip drip drip, the nra is revealing itself to be a paper tiger.

I predict, if everything that is currently trending toward new gun control and the nra continues to pick bizarre fights, I see them losing much of their falsely believed power within 2 years.

[yesphan]

27. Perhaps the NRA

can get SCOTUS to declare that guns are people. It would then certainly be against the law to destroy them. The discharge of said
guns now becomes a freedom of speech issue.

[earthside]

28. a la Drudge yesterday ... I'd like to see ...

... black and white photo of Jared Loughner over a bold red headline "NRA Vows To Stop Tucson From Destroying Guns".

The NRA is insane.

[pipoman]

32. Actually

do you think Jared Loughner would have sold his gun for the $100 walmart gift certificate? No, and neither will any other criminals..grandma, who's afraid to give the gun to her kids for fear the grandkids might get it will drag her dead husbands 1952 Iver Johnson six shooter down there. Now the public has just paid $100 for a gun that nobody would pay $50 for...OTOH grandma may have a first model Colt 1911, worth thousands in the collector market...and they are going to melt it down with the IJ paperweight? Silly ritual..Maybe when they are done melting guns they can get funding to buy objectionable books to burn..

[olddad56]

34. if the NRA has its way, we would all be forced to own a gun. (or 10)