Everytown for Gun Safety is promoting the widespread adoption of state-run confiscation squads and universal gun registration in a new report, titled, “At the Forefront of Gun Safety: Removing Illegal Guns.“
The key findings of the Everytown report:
- These programs are at the forefront of saving lives: California authorities have removed over 23,000 guns from prohibited people in the last eight years, and Illinois officials have confiscated or confirmed surrender of over 10,000 weapons in less than three years.
- We estimate that 173,000 gun owners become newly prohibited each year—almost 10 percent of them in Texas alone – and, without strong removal programs, the vast majority of those illegal guns remain in the possession of people who shouldn’t have them.
- Six states – California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York – have already set up statewide removal programs, building off of and maximizing the impact of other smart gun safety tools they already have in place – and beginning to build a gold-standard policy that interrupts dangerous gun access. Washington has a mandate in place that it has yet to implement.
The goal is via universal gun registration authorities will have the capacity to seize firearms from individuals who have become prohibited persons, e.g. felons, fugitives from justice, mental defectives, domestic abusers, drug addicts, etc., over the course of each year.
Ostensibly, by sending out confiscation squads to disarm these newly prohibited persons, public safety will increase because fewer supposedly troubled and/or dangerous people will have access to firearms.
But as GunsAmerica previously reported in 2021, it doesn’t work as advertised. In fact, California’s “Armed and Prohibited Persons System” (APPS), which has been around for decades, has been an abject failure.
To quote from the article:
One agency told CalMatters that they gave up on confiscating firearms after one night of work, calling it “a waste of resources that could be directed toward more pressing violent crime problems.” Some people provided proof that their guns had been sold long ago, while others claimed they had gotten rid of them but could provide no evidence.
“There was just no way to verify,” one agent said, adding that the state “has no idea who has guns and who’s turned them in.”
Apart from the logistical nightmare it is to track down every single firearm a person may or may not still possess, the real issue is just because someone is a prohibited person, it doesn’t make them an imminent danger to the public.
SEE ALSO: New Study: Small Group of Known Criminals Driving Crime (Not Law-Abiding Gun Owners!)
Now that’s not to say that prohibited persons shouldn’t be banned from possessing firearms. Absolutely they should. Nor is it to say they shouldn’t turn over the guns. Of course, they should!
But the idea that we should devote an untold number of gov’t personnel and innumerable tax dollars to ensure 100 percent compliance across the board is a fool’s errand.
Here’s why. To quote the good book, seek not the living amongst the dead!
The vast majority of violent crime is committed by a handful of ultra-dangerous suspects (who probably would never register a gun in the first place and, therefore, would not even be entered into the gun owner database).
Priority should be placed on disarming and imprisoning these individuals, not, for example, allowing the equivalent of a SWAT team to spend weeks tracking down a pot smoker with a felony weed possession conviction from 10 years ago who lives in a van near El Segundo and who may or may not still be in possession of a derringer he inherited from his father.
Point is, in a world of limited resources we have to distinguish the difference between an active threat to public safety and a nonviolent individual who shouldn’t have a gun because of a checkered past.
To explicate, a recent study from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJ) found that gun crimes in Washington, D.C. are committed by a “very tightly concentrated” group of individuals.
“This very small number of high-risk individuals are identifiable. Their violence is predictable and therefore it is preventable,” said the authors of the study.
“Overall, most victims and suspects with prior criminal offenses had been arrested about 11 times for about 13 different offenses by the time of the homicide,” the authors went on to observe.
By the numbers, they said, “At least 500 identifiable people annually drive 60-70 percent of the city’s shootings — and likely no more than 200 individuals at any given moment in time.”
SEE ALSO: California’s Gun Confiscation Program Has Been an Abject Failure
Those 500 or so individuals are the ones law enforcement should target. And based on the D.C. arrest records in the NICJ study, it’s pretty clear police are doing just that.
The question then is how are these known criminals who have had multiple run-ins with law enforcement making it back out onto the streets (see chart below)?
Well, we know the answer, of course. Democratic policies implemented over the past few years have created a revolving door of justice.
Everything from appointing prosecutors who use kid gloves with violent offenders to calls to “defund the police” to cashless bail to decriminalizing retail theft has made it more difficult for law enforcement to keep the really bad guys behind bars.
Therefore, instead of pushing for robust gun removal programs, Everytown ought to be asking Left-leaning lawmakers to reverse their soft-on-crime policies. That would do a lot more to reduce gun deaths in our country than sending cops door-to-door to seize firearms from individuals who may be prohibited persons but do not have a known history of violence, e.g. those with medical marijuana cards.
Again, to be clear, not saying that prohibited persons shouldn’t be prosecuted if they’re caught possessing a firearm. Not at all. Just that the approach to confiscation should be handled with a scalpel and not an ax.
But the truth is Everytown wants to create a nationwide gun removal program that relies on universal registration. Because it wants to create a system where it’s possible to take guns from individuals who are willing to register their guns in the first place, that is the law-abiding ones.
SEE ALSO: Turn ‘Em In or Become a Felon! Mandatory ‘Buyback’ Starting In This State
Think about it. With such a system in place, the gov’t can quickly expand the program from prohibited persons to law-abiding citizens who are in possession of newly prohibited firearms and accessories.
Suppose, for a moment, that the Dems in Congress succeed in banning black rifles in the future. Is there any doubt that if they had this tool in their toolbox, they’d deploy confiscation squads to disarm those in possession of AR and AK-pattern rifles?
1000% they would! And that’s exactly what they’ll end up doing if we’re not careful.
Neverytown and Brady are funded by deep state communists. They are irrelevant.
Considering how Idiot Americans are voting, majority Demoncrat, they seem to be happy with these laws and way of thinking. Perhaps it’s best that they lose Every right they have. I for one would Love to see them lead away in chains. Stupid People Deserve NO rights or Freedoms.
They ain’t interested in the criminals, they want them for the tax money they generate! This is to disarm the law abiding that will stand up and fight back!!!
There is a book, Death by Government, which explains that during the past 80 years, more than 100 million people have been killed BY THEIR OWN GOVERNMENTS. We do need guns to protect us against criminals, including against rogue police, but especially against our own government. The Constitution of the United States of America says that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Any act made by Congress or by any State which stops prior criminals or insane people from bearing arms is O.K. but no act of Congress or of any State is legal for even trying to “infringe” by limiting our right to bear arms, including automatic weapons.
These gun banning groups sound more like Hitler’s gestapo with their gun confiscation plans.
They say ” we are saving the children” by banning guns. Well, if they are so interested in the children, why don’t they do something about all the illegal drugs that come across the open border.?
Over 125,000 people in America die from Illegal drugs every year. But they don’t bother to mention that.
This administration wants to ban semi auto rifles.
Remember that Biden and Beto said ” hell yeah, we are coming to take your AR-15’s and AK-47’s”!
Russia invades the Ukraine and their government hands out AK-47’S to their citizens to fight the Russians.
Some of these extreme far leftist politicians want to have a gun control secret police in America. to go house to house in America, kicking your front door, throwing you onto the floor, handcuffing you and confiscating all your guns and ammo.
Rifles of all kinds are used in less that 400 shootings a year
Fists and feet kill almost 2,000 a year.
Dog attacks kill between 100 to 200 people a year.
Insects kill between 100 to 200 people a year.
Train accidents kill 2,000 a year.
Drowning kills over 4,000 a year.
Guns account for 25,000 a year
Knives kill 25,000 a year.
Car accidents kill 55,000 a year
Cigarettes kill 450,000 a year.
Cancer kills over a million each year.
There are over 2 million laws on the books in the USA. With something like 50 to 100 more added each week.
There are over 25,000 gun laws on the books. Why hasn’t this stopped crime?
Bank robbery is illegal but criminals still do it.
When the first street lights came out, the politiicians said that by placing them up it would stop crime.
Maybe if these demoncrap run cities would stop listening to a bunch of loud mouth criminals, rioters, looters, protesters and arsonist and stopped trying to defund-abolish the police department and let the police go out and arrest these criminals and put them away in prison for long sentences then the crime rate would go down. It’s as simple as that.
Many of these demoncrap run cities have a “no bail required” and put criminals back on the streets to commit more crime.
Shoplifter’s in commiefornia walk into clothing stores and grab arm fulls of clothes off the racks and walk out to a waiting car and drive off. No one does anything to stop them execpt to film it on their cell phones and post it on YouTube. If and when these shoplifter’s are ever caught, they are not charged with any crime and are let go because ” they are poor and a minority”.
Many of these demoncrap run cities have a $1.00 bail for murderers and release them back onto the streets to commit more murders.
The Central America countries and South America countries are emptying out their jails and prisons and sending thousands of criminals and felons to America and the administration welcomes them and the crime that they bring.
The administration is having sections of the border wall taken down and sold off for scrap. This allows the cartels, M 13 gang members, M18 gang members, drug dealers, murderers, felons, terrorists, spies, and saboteurs and prostitutes to cross the border and the administration welcomes them and the crime that they bring.
AOC and the squad and Letitia James want to repeal the 2 nd amendment.
AOC and the squad want to replace the Constitution and Bill of Rights with something out of Castro and Stalin handbook and turn America into a ” communist workers paradise”!
AOC and the squad want to replace the American flag too!
Why is it that hat back in the 1950’s one could walk into a hardware store, gun shop or mail order all kinds of firearms with no background check, no federal forms to fill out and no waiting period and crime was much lower back then?
Protect and support your right to keep and own all types of firearms and accessories.
Don’t let the evil, Satan worshipping, power crazed, far leftist politicians to restrict and ban firearms in America.
Buy more guns, ammo and magazines now before it’s too late!
“Otherwise, aren’t we in the firearm enthusiast community perennially calling on the government to enforce current laws rather than create new ones? This is where the jack boots meet the road.”
NOT going to commit to the exact wording and context but yes we are tired of seeing cases where criminals such as Hunter Biden get a free pass while people like Beto dream up new ways to target the law abiding.
The “jack boot” met the road long ago. Long before Ruby Ridge and Waco, government sanctioned killings trace back well beyong Pilate.
Dreaming is all it looks like Beto is going to have.
I hope I get to vote for him again. He’s like a dog chasing a car, if he ever caught one, he wouldn’t know what to do with it.
Maybe he should run for something lower like Railroad Commissioner and win just on name recognition? Unless he is running against George P. Bush; my fellow Texans never seem to tire of George Bushes.
*** Suppose, for a moment, that the Dems in Congress succeed in banning black rifles in the future. Is there any doubt that if they had this tool in their toolbox, they’d deploy confiscation squads to disarm those in possession of AR and AK-pattern rifles? ***
Highly doubtful. National level Dems rely on the votes of too many gun owners. We see this in the fact that a number of blue states and swing states are also constitutional carry states: Arizona, Georgia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine. Too say nothing of gun-friendly states with big Dem delegations like Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Florida and Pennsylvania.
And remember, the only way the ’94 “assault weapons” ban succeeded was with Republican support. That would never happen now.
And thirdly, there’s Bruen. If there were no confiscation squads in 1791, there aren’t going to be any new ones now.
Additionally, it’s just too impractical to go after millions of households, as opposed to the few thousand targeted under “red flag” laws. There would be huge pushback from law enforcement, both because they don’t have the personnel and because of the danger. Widespread armed holdout would be inevitable.
The playing field is just too different nationally to both muster the votes and to scale up state-level “red flag” programs into a coast-to-coast effort.
You know reading this sometimes I wasn’t sure if this was from a pro 2A author or from the everytown article. We as 2A community have allowed even ourselves to be desensitized to Gun Laws going along with the restrictions they’ve put on us. Just being in possession of a gun should never make anyone a criminal doesn’t anyone ever read the 2A amendment, shall not be infringed what part of that says criminals or someone accused of Domestic crimes nowhere, people forget our founders were TRAITORS yet if not for that we wouldn’t be who we are and even have a 2A . Now I’m not saying criminals shouldn’t be punished but punish them for those crimes not their God given right to defend themselves. If a criminal serves their sentence for their crimes why shouldn’t they have their rights,Prisons are supposed to be for punishment and rehabilitation,if they’re to dangerous to own a gun why are they free from Prison. We need to focus more on Rehabilitation especially the younger ones maybe smaller specialized Prisons,maybe actually instill morality back into them and that actually starts with God,you can have them run by different religious organizations but with armed guards also. The reason we have this “Gun problem ” is not the guns but the people so it’s a Morality issue. I myself am not a criminal nor ever been accused of Domestic violence but when a politician can make a law and suddenly your a criminal and now you lose your God given right to protect yourself with the best tool for that then I’m adamantly opposed to any restrictions,our founders would’ve put that in there saying ” really bad people shouldn’t have them” . The problem is when we allow our rights to slowly be chipped away and some of the advocates of the 2A accept these restrictions they are actually harming the movement,putting any restrictions on the 2A are bad remember that criminals will always break the law regardless of what law it is because they are Criminals,so why would you agree to restricting Law abiding citizens no matter how good it sounds on its face because as we know Politicians that hate guns will find a way to abuse it to further take away our rights until they’re gone. So please don’t accept any of their restrictions on the 2A we have to not only protect it for ourselves put for all future generations. We need to normalize gun ownership and put morality back into our Country to Save our country.
I agree with Scott. Most pose no threat. I personally don’t believe there should be a life time band on anything. Felons once they have fully completed their sentence should be given a time where if they stay out of trouble should get all their rights back. I’d say 5 years for nonviolent offenses and 10 years for the violent ones. (That’s just me, could be a different amount of time) You could even throw in if they get a speeding ticket the time period could start all over. If they are still a threat after being released it usually shows up pretty soon. And they still get the guns if they want to do harm. There are the young and dumb that just made a mistake. They might had grown up hunting and want to hunt again or just to protect their family. Give these people something to work and hope for and I think that would make it less likely they would ever get back into trouble. I believe this would reduce the amount of return offenders. Any person that is so bad that they should never again be in-trusted with a gun shouldn’t be getting out of prison in the first place.
“…adding that the state “has no idea who has guns and who’s turned them in.” Right. And that’s as it should be. A majority of shootings in Chicago are undoubtedly because the city is a cartel distribution center. But let’s not address the real problem; it’s easier intimidating grandpa to turn in his musket.
In the words of Charlton Heston: FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!
Red Flag Laws are blatantly unconstitutional. Knives, fists, bats, shovels, etc., aren’t mentioned. There are already laws on the books. I’ve met many deniers who say confiscation is a myth. The 2nd Amendment says “…shall not be infringed.” If the anti-gunners were so adamant, why isn’t Hunter indicted? Why isn’t Alec Baldwin indicted? It’s politics, not crime reduction.
Oh. These guys want the Gestapo. Thanks for clearing that up fellows.
The leftard city catch and release program is such a resounding success! (sarc)
Here is the QUESTION: Of these 23,000 guns removed, HOW MANY WERE PROSECUTED — AND — served time?!? Yep!, of these 175,000 people HOW MANY are made “unable to have guns” each year —- BY the stroke of a pen by ANTI-GUNNER “politicians” who have ABDICATED and DISHONORED or LIED when they SWORE while taking their OATH-OF-OFFICE!!!
Bring alot of friends and alot of guns when you come for mine. It’s gonna be messy.
So you’re admitting here that you are prohibited from owning guns?
I am all for picking up illegally owned firearms from dangerous individuals and illegal possessors but one claim in particular, that 173,000 people become illegal possessors every year, that is around one out of every two thousand people in the US, every year? That seems high? Where did they get that estimate?
Otherwise, aren’t we in the firearm enthusiast community perennially calling on the government to enforce current laws rather than create new ones? This is where the jack boots meet the road.
I think…….many if not most of that 173000 number are spouses involved in divorce proceedings where a lawyer involved files a restraining order. It’s almost an automatic thing with them anymore and it may not be warranted, but it also is easily approved because “gunz”.
I am all for locking people up in solitary for the rest of their lives if they are found guilty of promoting anti-constitutional ideas.