KATHY POSNER IS GUNNING FOR THE GUNS

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THE CHICAGO GOSSIP
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Kathy Posner

 


As the summer months heat up, so do tempers and the number of violent gun related killings. On Saturday, June23rd, Chicago will hold its annual summer gun turn-in program - "Don't Kill A Dream, Save A Life." The point of the program is for citizens to turn in any illegal weapons they have with no questions asked. Thousands of guns are turned in every year—in exchange for gift cards. Firearms are worth a $100.00 gift card and replica and BB-guns may be turned in for a $10.00 gift card.


Chicago has long believed in the value of Gun Turn-In days, a program run by the Chicago Police Department’s Community Policing Office and faith and community-based organizations, to decrease the number of guns on the streets Without getting into a debate on gun control, which seemingly has no unanimously agreed upon answer, there is still debate as to whether this voluntary program is affordable to the Police Departments hosting these events.


For the most part, at least in the state of Illinois, guns confiscated by police officers, whether taken from an illegal owner or confiscated as evidence in a crime investigation, are ordered by state law to be destroyed. The destruction process, governed by the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms) includes breaking down the gun and melting the steel, literally never to be identifiable as a gun again. To do this, however, has a cost.


Police departments and sheriff’s departments across Illinois are tasked with taking these firearms, in many cases thousands of confiscated guns at a time, to a legally licensed destroyer or steel smelter and then cataloging and tracking the official destruction of each and every gun. In many cases, this process costs the departments money to have this process completed, but in the best cases, it costs only hours and hours of officer time. This is time that should be used by officers to tend to other duties, duties that can directly translate into the immediate safety or rescue of a civilian in distress.


So why, when there is a company like Law Weapons &Supply who is willing, able and eager to provide this service for free to any and all police and sheriff’s departments in the state of Illinois, would any department continue to destroy these guns by traditional means? Law Weapons is offering to serve these officers and their departments by providing all transportation, all record keeping, all tracking, all official documentation of destruction and all physical handling of these weapons at absolutely no charge to the departments, saving them countless hours of officer time by relieving them of this long and arduous task.


Not only would these departments be taking advantage of a service offered by a locally owned business, increasing relations along the way, but they would be saving themselves countless hours of work and tremendous headaches in the accounting, disassembly and official destruction of confiscated firearms, not to mention any monetary cost involved whatsoever. Law Weapons & Supply is a small federally licensed gun dealer, started by local police officers and security professionals who literally want nothing more than to serve our local and state police departments wherever they can and help out in whatever way they are able.


It seems to me that if a private, locally owned and operated company, fighting for survival in today’s marketplace is willing and eager to assist our local and state law enforcement at absolutely no charge with any of the many tasks for which they are already understaffed, there should be no question.

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