Groceries-for-guns buyback programs have become popular in recent years in Los Angeles, which may be why we're confronted with the embarrassing spectacle of one of our local congresswomen, Rep. Linda Sanchez, proposing what may be the silliest gun-control legislation to date in response to the deadly December school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Sanchez, along with a group of allied congressional Democrats, is promoting a bill that would impose a 10% nationwide tax on handguns and use the proceeds to pay for gun buybacks, along with firearms safety campaigns and anti-violence programs.
Gun buyback programs make great material for TV news shows -- all those hundreds of guns piled up on a table is irresistible fodder for the cameras, and that makes them a favorite ploy for politicians and police chiefs out to look like they're actively fighting to take deadly weapons off the streets. Politicians really hit the jackpot when somebody shows up with some deadly old Army surplus like the two rocket launchers collected in L.A.'s annual buyback in December. But it's all just a dog-and-pony show with shooting irons.
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