Now there's one positive to getting a BOS!I was told by someone who had a firearm stolen in Durham and recovered in another case that they had to prove they had purchased the firearm … basically produce the original sales receipt … to get it back. Even then court/sheriff or whoever made him jump thru so many hoops it was silly. Now add in that the county takes custody in a buy back and you don’t know it I seriously doubt that fat fart or any of his minions are going to do any work to try and reunite a person and his property … I am betting it’s going off to be scraped ASAFP.
Oh I guarantee they had one of those plate scanning cars judiciously placed.No questions asked to those turning them in…but they didn’t say anything about everybody left standing there with firearms in their hands.
Wonder if they ran plates of every vehicle that showed up?
Possibly, but I don't know how much good it did with the carnival going on in the same parking lot. Less than 10% of the cars were there for the event.Oh I guarantee they had one of those plate scanning cars judiciously placed.
Only if any of it gets back to the station. That 10k they found is bagged, then they log and check the 5k into evidence and that 1k will appear at trial as evidence.If the money is from seized drug dealers, they should have a whole lot more than 15k... especially in Durham.
There was a black woman sitting off to the side who was not part of the sheriff office. Was that the judge?This was not a serious buyback … Sheriff Fatfart and the Judge backing this are running for re-election and this likely is one of their little campaign stepping stones. Now they can say we’re working on gun violence and Making Durham Great Again or other bovine caca. I call hog and phony show on this “event” … $15K campaigning that the seized funds could have been used for other more effective uses.
On a recent Saturday, nearly 100 shotguns, handguns, and assault rifles of all shapes and sizes were unloaded from police vehicles outside of the Durham County Detention Facility.
Some were rusty muskets that looked straight out of the Revolutionary War. Others were sleek black pistols with added metal devices making the gun fully automatic and equipped to kill quickly. Most ominous of them all were revolvers with shiny metal barrels that conveniently don’t drop shell casings when they’re fired.
Michael Taylor, a member of District Court Judge Pat Evans’ community outreach team for her reelection campaign, pointed at one of the revolvers. “That’s the murder weapon,” he said.
The assortment of guns had one thing in common: they had all been bought back from Durham residents by the sheriff’s office April 9 in the county’s first-ever “Bull City Gun Buy Back.”
The sheriff’s office offered Visa gift cards as compensation, $100 for a shotgun, $150 for a handgun and $200 for an assault rifle. At both the Mount Vernon Baptist Church and Durham County Stadium, residents could bring their guns in for a financial reward.
The buy-back event officially began at 2 p.m., but by noon cars had lined up down the block at both locations. The event was scheduled to last until 6 p.m., but by 3 p.m. the officers had run out of their rewards gift cards at both locations. In one hour, they bought back nearly 100 firearms, giving away $10,000 worth of gift cards.
At each location, deputies turned more than 40 people away after they had run out of gift cards.
One man brought in 13 guns. “If someone had broken into his house and robbed him, that’s 13 guns hitting the streets,” Taylor said.
“I was thinking if we got 10 that would be amazing. I’m stunned,” said Lieutenant John Pinner as he unloaded firearms from his trunk.
The buy-back event was organized by Durham County Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead in partnership with Evans. Both Birkhead and Evans are running for reelection and are on the ballot in the May 17 primary.
The buy-back process was anonymous and voluntary, and there was no limit to how many guns an individual could turn in. The press release from the sheriff’s office stated, “No questions will be asked.”
Guidelines for the event were straightforward: Individuals were instructed to drive up in their vehicles, making sure their firearms were visible, so deputies could then retrieve the guns. Participants were compensated only for firearms that were operational.
“Some people gave us their guns even after we ran out of gift cards,” Evans said.
Evans, a former lawyer with the Durham County District Attorney’s office, has lived in Durham County for 39 years and served as a District Court Judge for the last four.
Fighting gun violence in Durham is one of the main promises of her reelection campaign. She proposed the buy-back event about a month ago as a way to get guns off the streets.
Evans noted that gun violence in the past four years has been especially bad. More than 1,900 shooting incidents have occurred in Durham since the start of 2020, wounding 650 people and resulting in nearly 90 deaths.
The sheriff’s office will catalog the guns collected during the buy-back event, then keep them for six months and issue public notices to verify that there are no legal owners who wish to claim them. Then, Evans will sign an order to have the guns either destroyed or used for training purposes, she said.
After both locations ran out of gift cards, the guns were brought to the Detention Center and loaded onto two large carts. Evans posed triumphantly behind them for photos. As Taylor recorded her on his iPhone, Evans said, “Thank you Durham, for joining us and taking ahold of our vision to make Durham a safer place.”
Evans said another buy-back day may take place later this month. Many residents who brought guns after organizers had run out of gift cards want to come back next time, she said.
Taking guns off the streets is only a first step, Evans added. She favors additional solutions that address the root of the gun violence problem.
“It’s not enough to just take these guns,” Evans said. “We need to replace them with jobs, with mental health treatment, with substance abuse treatment, with tools for people to have a sustainable life.”
This story was produced through a partnership between the INDY and 9th Street Journal, which is published by journalism students at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy.
Much more of a murder weapon than a Glock converted to full auto.Most ominous was the revolvers? 🤣😂🤣🤦♂️
In case you want to see the haul. My single shot .22 (chrome bolt) is top layer of rifles at the top of the pic. View attachment 467076
On fairness they basically admitted as much. “We can’t do shit so they’d be on the streets.”"One man brought in 13 guns. “If someone had broken into his house and robbed him, that’s 13 guns hitting the streets,” Taylor said."
He was justballotgun harvesting.
As for "guns hitting the streets," my home was burglarized in broad daylight in 2007 and several guns - including a loaded revolver in a Gunvault that was pried out of the hardwood floor - "hit the streets."
APD took the report & told me to call in on Monday and find out which case officer had been assigned. The woman who answered the phone that Monday said (near a quote as I can remember): "Well, you didn't tell us who did it, and we don't have any leads, so we're not going to pursue it."
She was very nice about it, but ...
Call me cynical, but I can't imagine Durham PD (or any city PD) would be much different today, even in an election year.
That’s how I read it. We have no hope of keeping the criminals off the streets, so the best we can do is try to limit how much dangerous stuff they can steal.On fairness they basically admitted as much. “We can’t do shit so they’d be on the streets.”
If it wasn't for informants and repeat offenders keeping evidence of their crimes when their luck runs out clearance rates would be even sadder than they are already."One man brought in 13 guns. “If someone had broken into his house and robbed him, that’s 13 guns hitting the streets,” Taylor said."
He was justballotgun harvesting.
As for "guns hitting the streets," my home was burglarized in broad daylight in 2007 and several guns - including a loaded revolver in a Gunvault that was pried out of the hardwood floor - "hit the streets."
APD took the report & told me to call in on Monday and find out which case officer had been assigned. The woman who answered the phone that Monday said (near a quote as I can remember): "Well, you didn't tell us who did it, and we don't have any leads, so we're not going to pursue it."
She was very nice about it, but ...
Call me cynical, but I can't imagine Durham PD (or any city PD) would be much different today, even in an election year.
Well, that guy clearly wanted the virtue signal associated with what he was doing. He could have gotten a better deal from a pawn shop."Is that a Sig 365 in the middle white box?"
yes.
a guy turned in a new (bought in August ) 365
and a new Walther P22 with ammo for both.
he was behind me in line, and would not
consider selling to me or the many
people who asked. one offered
$700 for all. no deal.
i sold a Rohm and other worthless junk.
I was wondering that, but the absence of any scary black rifles makes me think they weren't smart enough to think of that.Sounds like the one that also works for the Sheriff/Judge to make sure they get something good in there.