San Francisco Murder Prevention: Buy Back the AR-15s and Uzis

Gifts for Guns -- A silly name nets some serious hardware
News Report By Benjamin Wachs

'Gifts for Guns' by the numbers:
Guns turned in: 117
Assault Weapons: 5
Sawed off shotguns: 2
Uzis: 1
Pistols: 109
“These were not cheap weapons. The quality … in terms of what we find on the street … was surprising. Glocks, Colt M1911s … these are sought after on the street.” – Sgt. Mikail Ali

Sitting in the shadow of City Hall Saturday, July 28, “Gifts for Guns” looks underwhelming. A police van, a bunch of officers behind a table, curious European tourists, and bored, pensive-looking black men labeled “Brothers Against Guns” … this is the whole deal.

But appearances can be deceiving -- officials are giddy about the success of the city’s first gun buy back in four years. In just over six hours, they collect 117 guns as part of a “no questions asked” amnesty policy. And what guns!

Sgt. Mikail Ali, a senior advisor for the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice who organized the event, runs down the list.

“An AR-15, a Tech-9, and SKS Rifle, an Uzi … two sawed off shotguns, a sawed off rifle ...”

I think a reverent “Goddam” is appropriate here.

“We’re real glad to get these off the street,” he adds.

Ah … yeah.

Now comes the boring part – figuring out what to do with them.

“We’ll determine if the weapon was reported stolen, and if it was, and the owner is still able to possess it, we’ll do everything we can to return it,” Ali says. “But most of these will be destroyed.”

Makes sense. But, here’s the part I don’t get: why hold it at City Hall? I mean, seriously, what kind of sense does that make?

“Well,” Ali asks, “where would you hold it?”

Ummmmmm. . .

“Exactly,” he says. “Where else? It may not be the place that close to home, but it’s neutral territory. Anybody can get here, it’s easy to access, and everybody knows it’s neutral ground. That’s why it was chosen instead of small satellite spaces in somebody’s neighborhood.”

Got it. See you next time.