A report out of Kenya stated that the government burnt 8,000 illegal guns that were confiscated. I think this is a great practice that all countries need to develop. I have supported this idea since it was reported that thousands of guns that were confiscated by the Miami-Dade police department (in Miami, FL USA) had found their way down to South America and were being used by guerrilla forces. So the police department was unintentionally supporting armed conflict in other countries.
I came to the conclusion at that time that when guns were confiscated by the police after processing has been completed, these guns should be destroyed. This would prevent the possibility for them to ever be used illegally again. What would be even better is if the gun metal could be recycled and for something useful. There currently seems to be a revolving door of guns, where some police departments collect guns and then auction them off to gun dealers. These gun dealers just turn around and put these guns right back on the street, or even worse, send guns to countries that are suffering from civil war, terrorism or other armed conflict.
For those who think that this idea is anti-gun rights, I would do have an argument. By taking illegal guns off the street it actually benefits gun manufacturers. When people can't buy illegal guns, they are forced to buy the new guns that are currently coming off the assembly line. So both the citizens and the gun manufacturers benefit from this process.
It is possible that this is already taken place somewhere, and I am just not aware of it. But there definitely needs to be an international effort to take illegal guns off of the market permanently. Congratulations to Kenya for taking a huge step in the right direction. You can read the article here.
I came to the conclusion at that time that when guns were confiscated by the police after processing has been completed, these guns should be destroyed. This would prevent the possibility for them to ever be used illegally again. What would be even better is if the gun metal could be recycled and for something useful. There currently seems to be a revolving door of guns, where some police departments collect guns and then auction them off to gun dealers. These gun dealers just turn around and put these guns right back on the street, or even worse, send guns to countries that are suffering from civil war, terrorism or other armed conflict.
For those who think that this idea is anti-gun rights, I would do have an argument. By taking illegal guns off the street it actually benefits gun manufacturers. When people can't buy illegal guns, they are forced to buy the new guns that are currently coming off the assembly line. So both the citizens and the gun manufacturers benefit from this process.
It is possible that this is already taken place somewhere, and I am just not aware of it. But there definitely needs to be an international effort to take illegal guns off of the market permanently. Congratulations to Kenya for taking a huge step in the right direction. You can read the article here.
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