The St. Louis Police Department recently performed a service to residents who don’t want to spend time trying to pawn their old weapons for less than $50. How’s this for logical analysis:

“It’s certainly worth the effort,” said Lt. Col Tim Reagan, the department’s chief of detectives. “You can’t give a scientific evaluation of how many crimes it solves or prevents by doing this. But you can say if a gun is not on the street, then it can’t be used. You can say that if a gun is in our possession, then it can’t be used in an unlawful act or cause an accident.”

Well, that’s true. Although it does make you wonder why there’s a limit of five guns per person. If buying back five guns per person gets them off the streets, why not buy back 20? Those guns would be in police hands so they couldn’t be used on the street in 20 hypothetical crimes!

The detective makes it sound like crimes occur because a gun just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, the department buys some guns, and those particular guns won’t be used in crimes. But a buyback doesn’t stop criminals from procuring more weapons (in fact, it helps them out with some cash).

The $50,000 would be better spent on tracking down criminals and getting them off the streets. A person who is seeking to harm others is far more dangerous than a machine with no brain or volition of its own. The next time the department wants to spend money, it should “buy back” the criminals.