-Caveat Lector-
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Date sent: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 14:20:17 -0700
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: www.LP.org
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For release: September 15, 1999
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Why criminals will love Clinton's
$15 million gun buyback program
WASHINGTON, DC -- A plan by President Clinton to spend $15
million to launch a nationwide gun "buyback" program is not only a
waste of money -- it's a cheap public relations stunt that will have
zero impact on gun crime, the Libertarian Party predicted today.
"The only people who will benefit from this buyback program are
politicians and criminals," said the party's national director, Steve
Dasbach. "Criminals like it because it will take only a minuscule
percentage of guns out of circulation -- almost all of them from
law-abiding people who will become disarmed. And politicians like it
because they get to spend our money while pretending to solve a problem."
Last week, Clinton proposed to hand out $15 million in federal
grants to police departments to buy guns from public housing residents as
part of "the largest gun buyback project in American history."
But before that $15 million is squandered, politicians should
study the evidence against government buyback programs, said Dasbach. The
fact is:
* The people LEAST likely to turn in guns are criminals.
"Expecting a criminal to turn in a gun is like expecting a
carpenter to turn in his favorite hammer -- or expecting a politician to
surrender his power to write more gun laws," said Dasbach. "They're simply
tools of the trade. Even dumb criminals are too smart to give up their
guns."
* The people MOST likely to turn in guns are law-abiding
citizens.
"In recent local gun buybacks, a majority of sellers were women
and senior citizens who explained that they're afraid of guns and wanted
to get them out of the house. In other words, these are the people least
likely to use them for criminal purposes," said Dasbach.
* Buybacks disarm future crime victims.
"Americans who turn in their guns can no longer use them to
defend themselves against murderers, rapists, and thieves," said
Dasbach. "It may be a voluntary disarmament program, but it's a
disarmament program nonetheless that leaves people defenseless against
criminals."
* Buybacks encourage criminals to steal guns.
"No-questions-asked buyback programs actually give street thugs an
incentive to steal firearms and sell them to police departments," noted
Dasbach. "So, this buyback program will help criminals profit, while
turning local police departments into fencing operations."
Besides the Libertarians, does anyone else question the
usefulness of gun buyback programs?
Yes, said Dasbach: The federal government. Out of the $15
million earmarked for this project, $1 million will go to study the
effectiveness of gun buyback programs.
"It's typical of the politicians: They decide to spend $14
million on a program, and then spend $1 million to see if they wasted that
$14 million," he said. "If it was their own money, it would be funny.
Since it's the taxpayers' money, it's an outrage."
The government could save that $1 million, he said, by simply
reviewing the research done by Florida State University criminologist Gary
Kleck, who found that buyback programs "have no demonstrable impact on
crime" -- but do yield "real political benefits."
And then the government could save the $14 million by simply
canceling the buyback program, said Dasbach.
"This program won't reduce crime, and it's foolish to pretend
otherwise," he said. "It's time to tell politicians that Americans aren't
buying the gun buyback program."
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The Libertarian Party
http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100
voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037
fax: 202-333-0072
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A<>E<>R
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
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