It seems that at least one newspaper in the Garden State is propping up New Jersey’s so-called “gun buyback” even though the editorial board knows such gun turn-in programs are ineffective at reducing violent crime.
Kicking off an editorial in the Times of Trenton titled “As guns flow in, buyback plucks them out in ones and twos,” the editorial board writes: “Getting guns off the street, particularly unregistered ones, is a commendable endeavor.” Yet then the board quickly admits: “Indeed, studies done by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research have shown that buyback programs have little impact on preventing gun violence.”
The editorial board then follows up that assessment by saying such programs play a large role in keeping children safer—an assertion not backed up by any research anywhere.
In truth, gun turn-in programs do nothing positive except to help politicians—and apparently editorial board members—feel better about their city and themselves.
