In a city struggling with gun violence and its residual anguish, Farmington City Manager Rob Mayes did the wrong thing by residents in canceling a gun buyback program scheduled for last Saturday.
Mayes said the event was questioned by the public. A loud minority was more like it, including local Bryan Crawford, who wrote in a Facebook post that the event was the work of “a liberal anti-gun activist group” and “an effort to disarm the general public.”
Nonsense.
In partnership with the Farmington Police Department, nonprofit New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence had planned to provide Four Corners residents a safe alternative to discarding unwanted guns. Law enforcement’s role was to ensure guns were not loaded and reported stolen. The nonprofit is not anti-gun – in fact, it gives away free gun locks.
New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence accepts guns and dismantles them. Later, high school students in Albuquerque transform parts into artful gardening tools.
The nonprofit has no interest in – nor is it capable of – disarming the public, clearly protected by the Second Amendment.
Voluntary buybacks are only intended to prevent unneeded weapons from causing harm or being used to commit acts of violence.
Canceling the program was the only real problem here.
A niche of Farmington residents wanted to toss out firearms for personal reasons. Deceased spouses often leave behind guns that widows don’t want or, at least, not all of them. Families with members suffering with suicidal ideation or severe depression or just going through a rough patch want weapons out of the house.
Mayes did not these serve citizens. His decision was short-sighted.
It’s a personal choice to get rid of a gun. No one else’s business.
In a statement, Mayes said he and Police Chief Steve Hebbe determined “the program had not received enough advance education and community collaboration prior to scheduling this event.”
The buyback would have been a first for Farmington, but the 19th in the state since 2016. A lack of “advance education” was a weak excuse to cancel it.
Opponents made a nonpolitical event political, as if the nonprofit were out to pry guns from the hands of responsible gun owners. Nothing of the sort.
An opportunity lost, Mayes had the chance to be a leader and take aside spreaders of disinformation, and educate them on the nonprofit’s intention to reduce firearm injury and death. Mayes only had to share the link, https://www.newmexicanstopreventgunviolence.org/, and talk about previous, successful in-state buybacks.
Crawford also took a veiled dig at Hebbe. As reported in the Tri-City Record, The Journal and The Durango Herald, Crawford wrote that when elected officials “realized who he (Hebbe) had invited on their behalf, they uninvited them.”
Yet, Hebbe has boldly stood up for gun rights. In September, Hebbe opposed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public health order that banned the public carry of weapons in Bernalillo County. As president of the New Mexico Police Chiefs Association, Hebbe weighed in on the debate, which led to a summit on gun crime hosted by Attorney General Raul Torrez on Sept. 26 in Albuquerque.
We can’t speak for families having lived through gun crimes. But some who may have felt differently about the city manager’s decision could be those close to 18-year-old Beau Wilson of Farmington, who walked through his neighborhood carrying three firearms, spraying bullets and killing three well-loved residents on May 15. Two police officers were among those wounded.
Relatives had expressed concern about Wilson, who reportedly suffered from mental illness and had access to thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Loved ones of Cortez Police Sgt. Michael Moran, shot and killed in the line of duty during a traffic stop on Nov. 29, might disagree, too. A week ago today, a bagpipe procession led Moran’s flag-draped casket into his memorial service. A respected and dedicated officer, Moran was the father of two daughters.
Mayes’ announcement to cancel the gun buyback came on the eve of the anniversary of the Aztec High School shooting, when former high school student William Atkinson, who struggled with mental illness, shot and killed Casey Marquez and Francisco “Paco” Fernandez Jr. on Dec. 7, 2017.
In exchange for guns, residents would have received $100 gift cards for long guns and pistols; $200 for semi-automatic handguns and rifles; or a $250 gift card for assault weapons. The organization spent about $26,000 on gift cards from Chevron Gas, Target, Walmart, Amazon and the grocer Smiths.
The holidays could have shined brighter for families in need and eager to get rid of guns.
The gun buyback was scheduled two years ago. We’d like it rescheduled for residents who want it.
If a gun buyback isn’t for you, steer clear. But don’t stand in the way of families who want this service.
We’ll never know whether a life could be saved if an unwanted gun had been scrapped and made into garden tools.
