+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
upworthy

gun control

Community

Washington city's ‘guns for gift cards’ gave gun owners up to $300 just in time for Christmas

No politics or debates, just a line around the block for the exchange.

Canva

Washington city's "guns for gift cards" gave gun owners up to $300.

A city in Washington state has pulled off a successful gun buyback event just in time for residents to get some extra holiday cash. The event took place at the Everett Police Department and offered people who turned in their firearms up to $300 per gun, according to The Seattle Times.

The only catch was that the people who participated had to prove that they were in fact residents of the city of Everett. But outside of showing an ID or utility bill with a local address, there were no questions asked about the guns collected. That didn't stop people from telling their stories on how they acquired their firearm.

Gun ownership in America is like a rite of passage in some families and several of the stories collected by The Seattle Times described inherited firearms. But with the holiday fast approaching and some people wanting to clear out space as well as afford to buy gifts for their loved ones, the "guns for gift cards" exchange couldn't have come at a better time.

It's not surprising to most people that Americans have a strong feelings about guns and take full advantage of their constitutional right to own them. The average gun owner in America owns five guns according to researchers. Most people report having guns for protection, while others say they have them for hunting or sport.

Everett Police Department's "guns for gift cards" buyback, a program that was modeled on similar ones in other U.S. cities, was a great way to reduce the number of guns people have in their houses. Everett resident Guy Axelson told The Seattle Times, “They’re just locked up all of the time. I don’t want any more around than what I need.”

black and silver revolver on red textilePhoto by Arnav Singhal on Unsplash

The line to exchange guns for gift cards at the Everett PD was so long that it took people nearly two hours to get to the front to hand over their firearm and collect their gift card. The success of the program contradicted the notion that people don't want to part with their weapons, as well as showing that if an effective and organized way is presented to reduce the number of guns that people will literally line up to take advantage of it.

One of the best things about this event is that there was no need for political posturing. No one was arguing about guns or Second Amendment rights. There weren't any protests about what the police department was doing. Everyone there was simply there for a transaction that would put money in people's pockets right before Christmas.

The entire event took place without any issue. Some residents turned in guns that no longer worked properly and some decided it was better to have fewer guns in their home while they had small children living there. The Seattle Times reported that several folks turned in the firearms due to concerns of rising crime.

Each gun turned in had a monetary value attached to it depending on its type and functionality. For example, AR-15s and AK-47s were worth the most at $300, while rifles and shotguns equaled $200, handguns were $100, and owners of guns that didn't work were offered $25.

Overall, the police department collected 241 guns, people walked out with a few extra dollars and an entire city felt a little safer.

From Your Site Articles
gun control
Democracy

Now, in California, you can sue a gun manufacturer if its products caused you harm

It's called taking responsibility.

via Peretz Partensky/Flickr and Office of the Governor of California/Flickr

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs law to hold gun manufacturers accountable.

The logic behind a new California law that allows people to sue gun manufacturers if they’ve been hurt—most likely shot—by their products makes a lot of sense. In America, you can sue a fast food joint if its burger has tainted meat that made you sick. You can also sue your employer if you are injured on the job.

There have even been instances where tobacco companies have been successfully sued for the deaths of smokers.

Why shouldn’t companies that make fortunes from selling and marketing instruments of death have to be responsible for the carnage created by their use? If you’re going to profit from guns you should also have to be responsible for the repercussions, especially when innocent people are hurt or killed.

A new bill signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom will allow people who’ve been harmed by guns to sue the manufacturer if it didn’t establish “reasonable controls” to keep them from those most likely to cause harm. These include people who are legally prohibited from owning a firearm or those who might hurt themselves or others.

Manufacturers can also face penalties if their guns are “abnormally dangerous” or sold in a way where they can be illegally converted.

“It’s well known that nearly every industry is held to account when their products cause harm or injury, except one: the gun industry,” Newsom said in a statement.

“California is going to change that. They can no longer hide from the mass destruction that they have caused. ... If you’ve been hurt or a family member is a victim of gun violence, you can now go to court and hold the makers of these deadly weapons accountable,” he said.

The bill could cause significant damage to the gun industry through expensive lawsuits. The Sandy Hook families successfully sued Remington in 2017 and won $73 million in damages. Insurance companies would also be less likely to protect gun companies from lawsuits knowing they have a much greater chance of being successfully sued.

The National Rifle Association claims the new law is “intentionally vague” and “can subject the industry to crippling lawsuits regardless of whether there is any actual violation of law, and therefore prevent law-abiding citizens from being able to access the firearms necessary to exercise a constitutional right.”

The new law is bound to be the subject of legal battles, but Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco told Politico that similar challenges to a New York law lost their initial challenges in court.

The new law is another bold step against gun violence for the state of California, which already has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. While gun rights advocates may bristle at the state’s actions, research shows that these types of laws save lives. According to The New York Times, California’s firearm mortality rate is the country’s lowest at 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2020, compared to the national average that year of 13.7 per 100,000.

People who live in California are also 25% less likely to die in a mass shooting. In the debate in America over whether we're safer with more guns or fewer firearms, California is making a compelling case for the latter.


From Your Site Articles
gun control
Democracy

Chris Murphy perfectly explains why the new bipartisan agreement on gun safety is so important

Joe Biden says it “would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.”

via POMED/Flickr

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy.

Americans are far too familiar with the mass-shooting cycle. After the feeling of horror lifts, we ask ourselves, "Why won’t someone do something?” Then after thoughts and prayers are showered upon the victims' families, there’s some discourse in Washington but the topic soon fades from consciousness after it becomes clear that our elected leaders refuse to do anything substantial to stop the violence.

When Congress did nothing after Sandy Hook, many of us reluctantly accepted that the unique form of terror that are school shootings as a normal part of American life.

However, a bipartisan group of senators has announced they’ve come to a compromise that, if passed, would enact a series of reforms that could significantly reduce gun violence in America. What’s encouraging about the legislation is that 10 Republican senators, the number needed to pass the law in the senate with full Democratic support, have signed on to the compromise.

According to Politico, President Biden said it “would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.”

The compromise doesn’t include a ban on assault rifles, even though, according to a study cited in the Austin American-Statesman, the one in place from 1994 to 2004 made mass shooting deaths 70% less likely.

Democratic Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy still sees it as a groundbreaking piece of legislation on an issue that has seen little progress over the past 30 years.

Murphy has been one of the most vocal supporters of reforms to protect Americans from gun violence after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre happened in his home state.

"The fact of the matter is that we've reached a compromise over the weekend that will save lives," he told MSNBC. "This does allow us to break this log jam and it allows us to be set up for future success. But the content of this compromise, in and of itself, will save lives."

Murphy provided an outline of the compromise in a press release on June 12. “Our plan increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can’t purchase weapons.”

The proposals contain legislation that would empower states to enact “red flag” laws to prevent people who are “a significant danger to themselves or others'' from acquiring firearms. It also expands access to mental health services for people in underserved areas.

The bill would also keep weapons out of the hands of those who've been convicted of domestic violence and include enhanced background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21. These checks would consult local law enforcement and take mental health records into consideration.

The new legislation may prove controversial among die-hard conservatives but aligns with most Americans' views. An ABC News/Ipsos poll from June 5 found that 70% of Americans “think enacting new gun control laws should take precedence over protecting ownership rights.”

Senator John Cornyn of Texas has been Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s emissary to the talks and he feels Congress is under a lot of pressure to take action after the Uvalde mass murder in his home state, according to Politico, which quoted Cornyn as saying “it will be embarrassing” if nothing happens this time.

While some gun safety advocates may find the bill disappointing because it doesn’t include a ban on assault rifles, they shouldn’t allow perfect to be the enemy of good. Murphy sees the compromise as a way to lay the foundation for future gun control legislation.

He told MSNBC that it's a means to "test the theory" that Republicans won't lose support for backing legislation that curbs gun violence and "will allow us to build on this."

From Your Site Articles
gun control
popular

In just 40 seconds, Matthew McConaughey makes the heartbreaking case for gun safety

"She wore these every day, green Converse with a heart on the right toe."

Twitter/WhiteHouse.gov

Matthew McConaughey speaks at the White House about gun safety.

Maite Rodriguez was only 10 years old when she was senselessly murdered during the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that made national headlines last month. The Robb Elementary School student was passionate about nature. So much so that every day she wore the same pair of green Converse shoes with a tiny heart etched in ink on the toe of the right shoe.

Those now iconic shoes were the only reliable piece of evidence in identifying her body after Rodriguez was gunned down by the AR-15 style rifle that killed her and 18 of her fellow classmates.

Actor Matthew McConaughey used that horrifying and unforgettable image during an appearance at the White House, where he advocated for gun safety measures in light of the shooting that has rocked his home town of Uvalde and the nation at large. McConaughey's remarks immediately went viral across social media, with a short, 40-second clip amassing more than 7 million views in less than 24 hours.

"How can we make the loss of these lives matter?" McConaughey asked. “You could feel the pain, the denial, the disillusion, anger, blame, sadness, loss of lives, dreams halted," he added, when describing his visit to Uvalde after the shooting.

McConaughey's call for action is fairly modest. In an op-ed published in the Austin American-Statesman, the Oscar-winning actor called for commonsense reforms including expanded background checks.

"I believe that responsible, law-abiding Americans have a Second Amendment right, enshrined by our founders, to bear arms," he wrote in the op-ed. "I also believe we have a cultural obligation to take steps toward slowing down the senseless killing of our children. The debate about gun control has delivered nothing but status quo. It’s time we talk about gun responsibility."

But it is this 40-second clip that has spread like wildfire across social media in which a tearful McConaughey asks his wife Camila Alves to hold up the pair of Converse worn by Rodriguez.

"Maite wore green Converse with a heart hand-drawn on the right toe," McConaughey says in the clip, voice cracking with grief, "because they represented her love of nature. Camila's got these shoes, can you show these shoes, please?"

Alves, herself visibly shaken with grief, holds up the shoes with her head held down.

"Wore these every day. Green Converse with a heart on the right toe. Because it was the same green Converse on her feet that turned out to be the only clear evidence that could identify her at the shooting," McConaughey says.

The actor angrily slammed his fist on the White House podium, audibly moaning and muttering, "How about that," as the clip ends.

McConaughey and Alves spent the day on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers from both parties. The actor and activist has used his stardom to advocate for middle-ground commonsense solutions to the nation's problems, including gun safety. In both his op-ed and in comments at the White House, McConaughey acknowledged the unique reality of America's Second Amendment and relationship with firearms. Rather than shaming the concept of gun ownership, McConaughey stressed the need for workable solutions and for political leaders to put principle ahead of fundraising and reelection concerns, saying, “We can’t truly be leaders if we are only living for reelection.”

“We need to invest in mental health care. We need safer schools,” McConaughey added. “We need to restrain sensationalized media coverage. We need to restore our family values. We need to restore our American values. And we need responsible gun ownership.”

With the potential for modest but meaningful gun safety legislation making progress in Congress, it's all the more important to have voices like McConaughey's as part of the conversation, to both remind us of the urgency of the moment and that there is a way forward with consensus on bipartisan solutions to a problem that should be a priority for every parent and every voter in the nation.

You can watch McConaughey's full remarks below:

From Your Site Articles
gun safety
Trending Stories