Two separate events this weekend encouraged gun owners to voluntarily relinquish their weapons in the name of reducing gun violence. Except at one of those events, the violence-reduction will probably be pretty negligible–given that they were all fake.
In Cleveland, a toy gun buy-back on Saturday traded plastic weapons for a gift card and a comic book. The event was inspired by the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot by a police officer while holding an airsoft gun.
Hundreds of families showed up to hand over their toys.
A six-year-old participant had this explanation for Fox 8: “Because guns are not appropriate gifts for kids.”
“What we’re trying to say now is put the guns down,” said a local activist.
One mother, who dropped off 10 toy weapons, told Fox she feared too much for her children’s safety since Rice’s shooting. “My kids are afraid they may be mistaken for real guns and get shot, hurt that’s why we turned in all the toy guns in our house today,” she said.
The local sheriff’s department backed the event, saying, “There is no way a law enforcement officer can visually inspect a toy gun and make that determination within seconds as to whether if that gun is real or a toy.”
Meanwhile, in Fredericksburg Virginia, a gun give-back drew dozens of participants who handed over not just toys, but actual guns and weapons.
The Police Department and Sheriff’s Office had amassed 60 guns by the end of the day, according to The Free Lance-Star.
A city police spokesperson declared the event an “unqualified success.”
The guns will all eventually be melted down, the toys made into art and the real guns recycled.
