Saturday, August 2, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n 9:47 a.m.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I am standing in the rain at Fire Station 17 on South 38th Street, waiting for the Pillsbury-sponsored Minneapolis gun buy-back to begin. The firemen are here but nobody else in authority.\u00a0 There are six cars of middle-aged white people waiting to sell their guns.\u00a0 A cop just pulled up.\u00a0 We must be getting started.<\/span><\/p>\n 10:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Finally getting started.\u00a0 I\u2019m sixth in line (technically seventh: a woman in a wheelchair and her husband are front of me but I\u2019m counting them as one Seller).\u00a0\u00a0 There are about 15 people in line behind me, all middle-aged White people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Middle aged guys of all races are phenomenally low crime risks.<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a010:35<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019re out of money.\u00a0 I turned in three pistols (limit three per customer), the Range Officer approved me for payment, but the Community Service Officer doesn\u2019t have enough gift cards.\u00a0 They ran out.\u00a0 The cop in charge is on the phone calling for more gift \u00a0cards.\u00a0 Or, if you want to go, just leave your guns as a voluntary donation.\u00a0 No takers for that offer.<\/span><\/p>\n 10:45<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Cops just announced the gift cards are on the way, be here in an hour.\u00a0 Those of us who already turned in our weapons can leave our name and number and can pick up our gift cards in an hour.\u00a0 Everybody else in line hang on, they\u2019re not buying more weapons until they get the money sorted out.\u00a0 Or you can leave them for free. About two dozen middle-aged, middle-class White people in line holding various gun cases. \u00a0I think I\u2019ll work the line to see what others are selling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 11:30<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Still no gift cards and the cops are not sure when \u2013 or \u2013 if more cards are coming.\u00a0 In response to complaints, the cops now are saying that the program was advertised \u201cquantities are limited\u201d so it\u2019s not their fault they were overwhelmed by demand and ran out of gift cards.\u00a0 But this event is scheduled to run from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and held at two locations . . . how many people did you think would respond? \u00a0 I was the SIXTH customer and I didn\u2019t get paid.\u00a0 You only budgeted enough for FIVE customers?\u00a0 Seriously?<\/span><\/p>\n 12:00<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Just scored a sweet deal on a classic rifle.\u00a0 A woman joined the line – now halfway down the driveway – with her husband and daughter, all holding long-gun cases.\u00a0 An aunt died and left them.\u00a0 One is a Remington .22 LR bolt-action single shot, almost identical to the one my Dad taught me to shoot, and it\u2019s in great shape.\u00a0 I offered her $100 which was exactly what the buy-back would pay, if they ever got more cards, if quantities weren\u2019t limited, if she wanted to wait.\u00a0 She took it.\u00a0 We\u2019re both pleased.\u00a0 Another gun off the mean streets of south Minneapolis.\u00a0 I\u2019ll all sleep safer tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n 12:30<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The cops have taken down the sign and are closing the doors.\u00a0 The buy-back is over, six hours early.\u00a0 They\u2019re out of money and aren\u2019t getting more.\u00a0 The cop in charge promised that everybody inside the fire station would get gift cards in the mail, just leave us your name, address and phone number (that whole anonymity thing?\u00a0 Forget about that if you want your money.\u00a0 Or you can leave your guns for free).\u00a0 What do I care, I\u2019m legally in possession of the weapons and they haven\u2019t been used in any crimes so sure, here\u2019s my name and address.\u00a0 Send me my cards in the mail.<\/span><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n What a complete and pathetic joke.\u00a0 This is how we fight crime?\u00a0 No wonder it’s a tidal wave.\u00a0 One cop in uniform running the show, three cops wearing Range Officer shirts making sure the weapons are safe, two Community Service Officers handling the money plus one young man wearing a similar shirt taking photos of the guns turned in, might have been a PR guy, all working on a Saturday?\u00a0 The staff cost more than the guns.<\/span><\/p>\n Everybody in line was annoyed.\u00a0 Started late, ran out early, promised resupply never arrived, scrambling for paper to take addresses for mailed cards, chaos from start to finish.\u00a0 Total number of firearms collected could not have exceeded six dozen and based on the ones I saw, they all were junk and all were sold by people who weren\u2019t likely to commit a crime with them anyway.\u00a0 You could have gotten more guns by randomly stopping cars in North Minneapolis twelve hours from now, and taken them from people who posed a more serious danger to society – the people riding around in cars after midnight with guns in their hands and trouble on their minds. <\/span><\/p>\n If any private business ran itself this way, the Attorney General would be all over them for Deceptive Trade Practices which is a vile form of Consumer Fraud.\u00a0 Not surprising to see Liberal Gun Banners acting like this but I felt sorry for the cops who got sucked into playing a part in the charade.\u00a0 As I was standing in line waiting for payment, I commented to one of the Range Officers \u201cGood thing you\u2019re getting guns away from these middle-aged White people. North Minneapolis will be a lot quieter from now on\u201d and he grimaced in reply \u201cYeah, well, I can\u2019t comment on that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 They know it\u2019s a crock.\u00a0 But if the brass wants PR, at least the overtime is good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Best of all, I met a buddy in line.\u00a0 He was hoping to sell his shotgun for the promised $100 \u2013 hey, it\u2019s a single-shot 12 gauge pump-action with serial number and the camo duct tape makes it “tactical.”<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0I wonder if they paid off?<\/span><\/p>\n Joe Doakes<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Apparently the Pillsbury Foundation\u00a0doesn’t want\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em> much “art<\/a>“.<\/p>\n The Magical Number!: \u00a0<\/strong>Another attendee at the\u00a0South Minneapolis location – like Doakes, a Twin Cities attorney – writes:<\/p>\n I’d say more than five [people got their guns purchased by the buyback] but less than 10. There was a three gun limit that wasn’t enforced so there were a couple people at the front that brought in more than three.<\/p>\n The cop in full uniform said he thought they brought a couple thousand [dollars] in gift cards to start off with.<\/p>\n Even if it was 3,000 that’s only enough for 15 handguns. Totally inadequate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"14054977_618239098345585_5324739986011346212_n\"](\"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/14054977_618239098345585_5324739986011346212_n.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n