For those who care where their money is going: Amazon.com helps fund gun buybacks
While I already knew that Jeff Bezos is a liberal, it probably isn't too surprising that he also believes in gun control, but it is disappointing. Gun buybacks don't work (police don't support them), but those who support them are clearly among those who believe less guns, less crime. Even worse, the buybacks are primarily directed at poor neighborhoods where people actually benefit the most from owning guns. From the Oregonian:
The buyback program was announced a month after last December's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., by city leaders sick of hearing about gun violence. Private sponsors including Amazon.com contributed tens of thousands of dollars so that people could anonymously turn in their weapons for shopping cards worth up to $200. . . .For notes on Australia's gun buyback see here and here.
Labels: gunbuybacks
posted by John Lott at 4:58 PM
2 Comments:
Amazon funded a gun buyback in Seattle, Washington, where its HQ is based (and where Jeff Bezos lives). It hasn't funded such buybacks in other cities or states. I'm willing to bet it was a local initiative, where all corporations were approached by the city and/or its PD (particularly the larger ones).
I don't find Amazon.com as a whole to be anti-gun - in fact, I wrote a post on my blog a couple of months ago, after being bombarded with e-mail rumors to the contrary that were all patently false. You'll find it at:
http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2013/02/amazoncom-is-not-anti-gun.html
I wish Amazon and/or Mr. Bezos hadn't participated in the Washington event . . . but I suspect it was a matter of local coloration.
I am a "radical" gun rights proponent, and I don't view gun buybacks as particularly anti-gun. If people are stupid enough to turn in a valuable gun for the pittance that is being offered, isn't that a free market at work? Nobody's second amendment rights are violated by a gun buyback.
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