Godsend or boondoggle?

For better or worse, Mayor Byron W. Brown’s third annual gun buyback program Saturday resulted in the surrender of 711 firearms, ranging from assault weapons to handguns.

The program took place during a vicious spike in homicides on city streets —38 so far this year, eclipsing last year’s total of 37.

“We are very pleased—in fact we are thrilled with the results of this buyback,” Brown said Saturday.

“We were able to take 711 guns that could be dangerous if they fell into the wrong hands,” the mayor said. “In three years, 2,312 guns were taken off the streets of Buffalo.”

Richard F. Calipari, the city’s deputy comptroller for investment and debt, said the 711 firearms turned in at collection sites in seven city churches were exchanged for prepaid credit cards worth $10 to $100 each. Tentative figures released by Calipari indicated a total of more than $34,000 in pay-outs.

A final audit on weapons collected and funds distributed will be released in the coming weeks.

Brown defended the program, which has its detractors.

“This is just one of many tactics we

are utilizing to attack violence in the city,” he said, pointing to security cameras installed throughout the city as an example of another deterrent.

Even those who surrendered weapons on Saturday disagreed about the effectiveness of the program.

“It keeps honest people honest,” said Willie, who did not want to reveal his last name, as he waited to be compensated for an old gun he surrendered in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on Abbott Road. “Dishonest people will keep their guns.”

A woman who did not want to reveal her name said that the buyback program is beneficial for those wanting to get rid of their guns legally. She turned in two old shotguns that belonged to her late father at True Bethel Baptist Church on East Ferry Street.

However, she was unsure if the program would make a dent in violent crime numbers.

“I don’t know if it will affect crime,” she said. “That requires a change of heart.”

Gun buyback programs across the country have their opponents.

Some studies show the programs are ineffective at lowering crime rates and getting potentially harmful weapons off the streets.

In 2000, Lawrence Sherman, a University of Pennsylvania criminology professor, conducted a study for the U. S. Department of Justice and noted there was no direct correlation between gun buyback programs and the reduction of crime.

Other studies show that the guns typically surrendered in buybacks are not the types used in deadly crimes. Often, they are too old even to be fired.

“A thug is not going to hand in a gun for less than what he paid for it,” said Willie, at St. Thomas Aquinas. “It’s not worth it.”

Others are more optimistic about the program.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” said Linda, who did not reveal her last name, as she left St. Thomas Aquinas. “Every little bit counts.”

A woman named Wokita, who turned in two guns at True Bethel, said the buyback could not come at a more opportune time for a city rattled by a wave of shootings.

“It’s perfect timing,” she said. “Maybe it will keep hope alive.”

The mayor noted that one mother who discovered a loaded gun in her son’s room sold the gun and refused to accept the card, instead donating it to the West Side church where she had turned the firearm in.

Police Commissioner H. Mc- Carthy Gipson encouraged others to do likewise, urging those who find guns to call the police.

“Get that gun out of your house, out of harm’s way,” he said.

Gipson also said that despite the spike in deadly shootings, crime overall is not on the rise and that crime rates tend to “begin to slow down with the advent of fall.”