In response to the school shooting tragedy in Newtown, town officials in Darien are exploring the possibility of hosting the town's first-ever gun buyback program.
First Selectman Jayme Stevenson aired the proposal during Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting, following a discussion on school security.
Darien Police Chief Duane Lovello said he supported the idea of the police department organizing an event at which residents could have their guns — old, new, registered or otherwise — purchased for full value.
Stevenson said the town would need to fund the buyback, adding that it was unknown how many weapons would be turned in.
Selectman David Bayne said even if the buyback program only yields a handful of weapons, it would be worth it. He said while school shootings are rare, research shows that a high percentage of shootings during domestic incidents resulted simply because "a weapon happened to be there, in the house."
"Residents should at least know that if they have weapons they don't want or need… they can get rid of them," Bayne said.
Stevenson, who recently joined the gun control lobby group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said she was in support of stricter gun legislation, however she said she was somewhat unclear on which specific measures she would support due to conflicting information, for example, "how do you define what an assault weapon is?"
Bayne urged the board to adopt a blanket resolution indicating its support for "sensible gun legislation reform," however Stevenson said she was opposed to the idea, since the crafting of gun control legislation was not in board's purview.
Selectman John Lundeen said he too wanted to see the board adopt a resolution representing its stance on the issue.
"I see no harm in the board making a unified statement… on the little bit we agree on…," Lundeen said.
Bayne said even though the state General Assembly in Hartford and Congress were working on their own legislation, he saw no reason why local municipalities couldn't lend their voices in support of stricter gun control.
"I think all 169 towns in Connecticut should do it," he said, adding "this debate, after all, is raging on in Washington and Hartford…"
Stevenson countered that in her view the board was stepping into something that was outside of its role. "We have to know what we're talking about before we adopt a statement like that," she said.
Stevenson said she was open to discussing the proposal further, "in about a month," and said she would get it on the board's agenda.
...."I think all 169 towns in Connecticut should do it," he said, adding "this debate, after all, is raging on in Washington and Hartford…" Does Bayne really want to in effective disarm law abiding citizens eventually in hopes of instituting a gun free zone in Darien and the entire state of CT? How about just put the welcome mat out to criminals and the mentally ill to come rob and kill our citizens that HAVE a Constitutional right to bear arms. Disarm them first before you come after or bully any legal law abiding gun owners. Chicago is a "gun free" zone & we know how is that working out.
An "assault rifle" is easily definable. It's usually a carbine-length rifle capable of full-automatic and semi-automatic function (select fire, is the term), and fires an low to intermediate powered cartridge. And select-fire weapons have been explicitly banned in CT for decades. If your rifle only fires full-auto, it is legally a machine gun. If it fires only semi-automatic, it is a semi-auto sporting rifle. If you have a firearm that does not have the capability to fire full auto or burst, you simply have a semi-automatic rifle. It may have a passing resemblance to a military rifle, but it most assuredly is not one. There is no such thing as an "assault pistol", either. Firearms that may look that way are either simply semi-automatic pistols, or submachine guns - "sub"machinegun because it fires a pistol, rather than rifle cartridge, and a "pistol" because it had less than a 16 inch long barrel. A few variations of this may come in under SBR (short-barrelled rifle) regulations, but anything full-auto is well regulated Federally since 1934, and regulated by the State of CT as well. So how do you define an "assault weapon"? The same way you define a boogyman, bugbear or hobgoblin. They are all mythical creatures designed to scare you.
Wow...I have finally found an example of a liberal who actually has enough humility to not presume to know-it-all! She just earned a bit of respect in my book (despite our differences of opinion). Too many liberals, especially politicians, speaking in favor of stricter gun control measures seem to be people who haven't bothered to do any real research on a complicated and complex subject or bothered to acquire any real technical knowledge on firearms. (Thank you, Mark Bishop, for attempting to enlighten the populace just a little bit. :-) )
One thing that MAIG is famous for is how at least 11 of its members have been prosecuted for corruption since its inception. What a great group of people to associate with. Mayor Bloomberg wishes to be a government nanny while he surrounds himself with armed security. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10881&page=95 http://www.stopillegalmayors.com/
Are you suggesting that this is limited to Darien, the state of CT or the entire country? Any local or state option could be easily circumvented by purchasing elsewhere. Are the police going to search every car traveling over the state or town border? You wish to take a product that is sold through the free market & turn it into a massive government program staffed by well paid government employees? Do you know that competitive shooters can go through 100,000 rounds of ammunition per year? They buy in bulk or even reload themselves. Perhaps you wish to be like Mexico where there is a single gun store in the entire country controlled by the military. How's that working out for them? Do you think guns & ammunition can't be smuggled over the border like drugs? How effective has prohibition been to keep drugs & alcohol out of the hands of kids & adults? Finally, some general statistics. According to what I've read, 80% of people convicted of murder already have a criminal record while 50% of their victims also do. Criminals are not going to be concerned about following the laws & it should also indicate that the problem we have is with drugs, gangs & our violent culture. Stop blaming the tools & start to consider whether we need to reconsider our war on drugs.