Springfield officials were caught off guard Saturday when residents turned out in droves — some waiting in line an hour and a half or more — to exchange unwanted firearms for $100 debit cards.
Mayor Tim Davlin said that because he had figured police would collect 100 guns at most in the buyback program, authorities had only 150 debit cards on hand.
But police collected 526 guns from people who either no longer wanted them around the house or wanted debit cards. Because of the large turnout, dozens of people walked away with rain checks and a guarantee that they could collect their debit cards later.
WarOnGuns correspondent Peter had this to say:
The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. The city of Springfield guesstimated 100 guns would be exchanged for $100 debit cards, and 526 guns were turned in. They have to float an emergency budget thingie to pay for all the debit cards! Heh.
Which brings up a perhaps interesting scenario: suppose another city sponsored another Gun Buy-Back Day, and they were flooded with Lorcins, etc., such that they didn't have the funds to issue the promised debit cards. Would the gun owners involved then 'own' that city or town? Would they be entitled to demand personnel changes as part of a settlement conference? Instead of happenstance, what if this was a planned event? And, would hoisting a city on its' own petard advance or hinder 2A advocacy?
Then again, if someone handed you Springfield, Illinois on a platter, would you want it?