Buy back guns and get them off the streets

The United States has a problem with gun violence, and New Mexico is no exception; it’s among the top 10 states for gun deaths per capita in the most recent data.

To make our state and country less prone to mass shootings, gun accidents, impulse shootings, armed robberies or homicides, it will take the coordination of federal and state legislation in a manner difficult to imagine in our fractured nation.

Still, the first gun control legislation in 30 years passed Congress in June. Incredibly, it lacked such high-profile solutions as a ban on assault-style weapons or even raising the age to purchase such a weapon from 18 to 21. But it did include tougher background checks for buyers younger than 21 and funds to encourage states to implement red-flag laws that would take guns out of the hands of people considered a threat. Progress, but hardly enough.

One solution that is not considered enough by Congress or states is the reduction of the number of guns in circulation.

U.S. gun owners have some 393.3 million weapons, according to a 2018 report by the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based organization. That’s more than the number of people who live here, about 330 million. And the number is likely far higher in 2022, considering Americans have been on a gun-buying spree. Purchases rose 40 percent in 2020 from the previous year, according to FBI figures.

That’s why initiatives to buy back guns are important. They get guns off the street and remind everyone this problem can be tackled, one gun at a time if need be.

Look at what happened in Albuquerque last month.

On June 11, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence held its 14th Guns to Gardens Buyback — part of a national effort to buy back guns across the country.

The concept is simple. Individuals bring unwanted guns, no questions asked, and turn them in. They receive gift cards for their trouble, and, eventually, the guns become garden tools — literally swords to plowshares.

The Albuquerque event gathered 240 guns, including one machine gun. There were five sawed-off shotguns, two AK-47s, several AR-15s and dozens of semi-automatic handguns.

None of those guns can be used to harm another human being now. The event was so successful, the group ran out of gift cards; the guns kept coming.

New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence will be back at this important work Saturday, hosting a gun buyback in Santa Fe from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s the fifth such event held here, with efforts bringing in 575 firearms over the years.

Gift cards from Amazon, Walmart, Target, Smith’s and Brewers Gas will be handed out. The event is sponsored by Fiesta Auto and occurring at Fiesta Nissan,

2005 St. Michael’s Drive.

Bring the firearms unloaded and leave them in the trunk of a vehicle. Collect $250 for assault weapons, $200 for semi-automatic handguns and rifles and $100 for long guns and pistols. It couldn’t be simpler. Stay in the car or truck and drive through.

Have a gun you don’t use, don’t want and don’t know what to do with?

Now’s the opportunity to get rid of it. We can always use more garden tools.