Trade in your worn-out gun for a shiny new computer
By Evan Blass 
posted January 28th 2006 5:00AM
posted January 28th 2006 5:00AM
This is the sweetest deal we've
seen in a long time: authorities in one of Mexico City's sixteen districts are putting a new twist on the old
guns-for-cash program by offering one of 150 new computers to people who trade in any type of firearm. The computers
were donated to the city by a charitable foundation, which probably didn't know that there are better ways of acquiring
guns than this transparent laundering scheme. There were several humorous outros that we could have used for this post
(something involving Internet
hunting, perhaps), but lets go with: It's super that there will be 150 less guns in Mexico City (out of 200? 2000?
2,000,000?), but we're not looking forward to the first reports out of Mexico of someone tragically killed while trying
to fend off an attacker with his/her Dell.[Via PhysOrg Weblog]
and the 151st person is gonna kill everyne cuz he didnt get his computer.
lol
To whom ever said that guns are 100 percent illegal in mexico, you couldn't be more wrong. Mexico's constituion presents the right to bear arms, to be specific pistols .38 caliber revolver, .380 auto or smaller, shotguns 12-gauge or smaller (no sawed of shotguns barrel must be 25" or longer)and any bolt action or semi auto rifle up to .30 caliber. If you don't beleive me go look it up or read a book. Next time make sure you know what your talking about BEFORE you post something as being a fact, and please if you are going to smack a 100% label on something give us some information to back up your statement. I'm not out to correct everyone on the internet but I see a lot of people talking here like mexico is some kind of third world country and it is not. It saddens me to see how ignorant the people of the supposed richest, smartest, and most advanced nation in the world can be. Please go read a book or even something on the internet (I say that cautiously) and remember that not only americans are reading the internet, so let's try and do a better job of being respectful and acting educated and civilized. Instead of taking what you have for granted and making jokes about what other countries lack, why not use what you have for your advantage and show the rest of the world that we are not a bunch of ignorant, prejudice, Americans who only care about themselves.
I dunno about you guys, but I use guns for food. No.. not human flesh..
Where, in this great country, can you buy venison, caribou, or moose meat (reasonably priced, at that)?? Yeah, I didn't think so. All the gun haters get to eat the meat at the gun lovers' BBQ's. So shut the heck up. Illegal guns cause crime. Legal guns keep the animal population down so they dont spread diseases as easily to each other.
Oh, and the better of us hunters donate about 1/3 of all meat we gather to feeding the homeless.
HAHAHA, trade your gun in for a computer. Get on the net and do ur gun research. Go shop for a cheap and better gun. That doesn't eliminate more firearms.
Bad idea
"but we're not looking forward to the first reports out of Mexico of someone tragically killed while trying to fend off an attacker with his/her Dell"
nor we're looking forward to the many daily reports of someone tragically killing himself or his wife/son/brother/dad/etc just because a firearm was around...
Hm, they don't mention what computer they get. If it's a Quad-G5 then I'd be glad to purchase some cheap 1950 defective gun and give it in exchange :-)
Haven't they heard yet? Guns don't kill people, gamers do!
These PcS have tracker software to see where the user go on the internet as well as read mail. Becaue we all know everyone in mexico with a gun is an arms dealer.
Golly.
and a few months later they will be wishing they had a gun to put a hole in that DELL? or whatevr cheapo computer they get.
Gun's dont kill people, gamers kill people. They are just fueling the violence. Idiots.
Man, porkula, I think you need to lay off the coffee. I'll give you that guns are tools, like, say, hammers. But the intended function of a gun is not to drive nails. It's to put holes in living things.
I am not against guns ownership, but if Rosie O'Donnell (nice 10 year old reference, by the way) were making OTHER people fat with her spoon, I might offer her a palm pilot or something to give up the dangerous weapon.
Actually, in Mexico guns and all types of firearms are 100% illegal. So compared to the U.S., there are far fewer firearms.
But I'm sure the local narco isn't going to care about getting a computer...
No offense, but if I lived in Mexico, I'd rather have a gun than a computer. Or, you know, both.
When Dells are outlawed, only outlaws will have Dells.
#8. lx
You say "the intended function of a gun is not to drive nails. It's to put holes in living things".
I'm not sure about that, I always though the purpose of a gun was to eject a projectile (bullet) at a high velocity.
The decision to use that high-speed projectile to put holes in living things is purely up to the user.
I prefer to put holes in paper targets, or tin cans. ;)
Guns don't kill people...Rappers do.
I guess all the crooks will know where to go if they want to steal a computer...
I'll keep my guns, thanks.
it is a good idea to exchange guns for a valuable rather than cash, as I have heard stories of people trading in their gun for a high cash value and going out and buying two guns.
#10:
Offence taken. Living in Mexico, i rather my pc than a gun. That image of a country full of insecurity and violence is something that the US goverment gives you so you can feel safer.
#19 You said it. Smug American views on guns/violence etc are ironic at best and kill innocent people at worst.
Why not just find that nice guy who traded in his gun for a computer, then rob him of his computer?
Then you'll have your gun AND a computer...
In Mexico, only criminals (some of them cops) have guns!!! It's illegal to own guns remember....
They would be better off if guns were legal. They suffer from kidnapping and carjacking way too much.
I'd much rather have a computers for firearms day. I've got an old PC lying around that I would love to get a new rifle or shotgun for. And, if were in a country where it's legal maybe I could get something fully auto (and fully fun).
I have never heard the US govt. say anything about how unsafe Mexico is, rather it is all of the people I have know over the years who have been there - some of them - no many of them - Mexican or married to Mexicans (my aunt). And yes, Mexico would be safer if guns were legal, in many cases for citizens to protect themselves from the police. I love much about Mexican culture, but Mexico has always been known for govt. corruption.
Guns don't kill people. The Government does, after they confiscate all the guns, so the people can't defend themselves.
Whatever they trade for the guns is irrelevant. The fact is, disarming the people ALWAYS results in genocide. Sooner or later. Read your history.
Look what happened when Texas Decided to arm the People and gave them the ability to apply for Easy Concealed Carry Permits, Crime went way down. Same With Florida.
Hammers, PCs and guns... which one does the murderer takes to commit his crime? Which one do you want to keep away?
Guns kill.
But, on the other hand, the last person who'll give his guns away will be the criminal...
And, hey, I have 3 arms, so remember: the countries with more gun killings, are the ones with more flexible weapon laws.
On the fourth hand... oh, it's Endgadget, wrong place
Lets cut the racial sh*t please??
Latin American countries are not the sh*t holes you guys think they are. Weapons are not as used as they are here in the US.
Mexico is a great country to live in. I've never been to Mexico...but I know its better than being socially repressed by a goverment who lies, cheats and tries to dominate the world.
Think outside the US-Mentality box. (American is NOT a term for US Born humans. Americans are EVERYBODY born in the continent named America!!)
Oh please. We call ourselves 'Americans' because no one wants to type 'United States of Americans.' Is that so unreasonable?
Although I'm sure you're right that Mexico's government doesn't lie or cheat. It's almost on par with China for incorruptibility.
Ok, just hypothetically
"I'm a gun thug on the streets and i see a poster telling me to trade in my gun for a pc... To the right of me theres a house with a computer in it...
Choice 1: Armed robbery of the house
Result: New PC, Keep Gun
Choice 2: Go to the station and trade in my gun
Result: New PC, No Gun
Which one will i choose?...."
Hammers are indeed tools. They are also used in murders, so lets take them away from the citizens too. In fact, it's possible to kill someone with a computer too. hmm....let's just take EVERYTHING away from the citizens, then all they can kill with is their bare hands. Maybe we should cut off their hands too!
#27 If you are so sure about other countries without ever visiting them then you are way too naive. I have been to more third world countries than I can count and one thing that always comes to mind is how lucky I am to be "American".
True all countries in North and South American are American nations, but ask the citizens of those countries is they consider themselves "Americans" especially the Canadians.
Oh, and if you hate the U.S. so much, why don't you pack your bags and leave. There are millions of less fortunate people who would love to live in whatever home you have and work whatever job you do.
As for the guns, it seems to me that the only people who want to take them away are the ones who don't own them themselves, or those who want to opress the weak.
I'll keep my guns and my citizenship thank you very much...
Depending on the cost of the computers, and the cost to get a gun out of the hands of the public, this may actually be a good deal for Mexico. I could only speculate wildly about how much it actually costs Mexico to get one gun off the street, (and those look more like miltary grade rifles, not mere handguns?) but I could easily see it being very expensive. In the end it might be cheaper, or almost as cheap and a lot simpler/faster/more effective to simply make the people WANT to bring in their guns. Even if you raise your program cost by say, 30% per unit, but you pull in 10x as many units/month, it just might be worth the extra expense to solve the problem faster.
Damn, I just got rid of 17 years of accumlated computers, would fill about a 4' by 4' x 7' cube. Sure would have been nice to at least get soem reloading equipment in trade.
"I've never been to Mexico...but I know its better than being socially repressed by a goverment who lies, cheats and tries to dominate the world."
Wow. Wow. Now that is pure partisan dellusion. Please please do a tiny bit of research before coming up with this propoganda, because that is what it is.
Mexico is in a slump right now. They used to produce goods for the US as their major source of money, but in the last 15 years, it has all been moved to China. Right now their biggest source of income is illegal immigrants in the US sending money to their family back home. Sadly, this is completely true.
This puts them in a bad situation with crime as their are numerous gangs and armed resistance. Drug traffic is a huge problem (I highly recommend the movie Traffic by the way).
Mexico is a hotspot of gun-related deaths, and that is why it is illegal. However, illegality does not make fewer deaths, as most of US deaths are caused by illegally obtained firearms.
The United States in 1993 with a population of 257,783,004 had 18,570 gun related deaths. Mexico in 1994 with a population of 90,011,259 had 21,740. So please please please get your facts straight and form your opinions on your own based on facts rather than a blind hatred of an ambigious entity known as "America."
I'd like to see the reverse. Can I trade a few old computers for a shiny new firearm?
If so, make mine stainless, please.
"If the only purpose for firearms is killing, all of mine must be defective."
Australia outlawed gun ownership years ago except under certain circumstances. All automatic weapons, pistols and semi-auto shotguns were made 100% illegal no matter what.
There was no trade in for a PC or a cash handout(not from memory anyway) you just handed in your guns or risked a fine if caught. No one I know owns a gun or complains about not having a gun. We all handed ours in as asked and got on with our lives.
Nr 2: Excactly my thought. Not a humorous outro at all.
To various people: do we really need to quibble about the purpose of guns? Just because you've never killed anything with your gun doesn't mean that's not what it's for. You can own an electric chair without killing someone, too, but that doesn't make it a hat-rack.
Saying, "oh, hammers can be used to kill people, too, let's take those away" is similarly idiotic. When something designed for a legal and/or peaceful purpose is often used to illegally cause harm, that doesn't mean the tool is bad, but it might mean you want to restrict access to it a little, as many pharmacies are keeping pseudoephedrin off the shelf to help cut down its theft for meth manufacture.
I fail to understand why trading 150 guns for computers is threatening to anyone. If it's too small a drop in the bucket, it's irrelevant, and if 150 people turn in illegal guns, so much the better. How does this affect legal gun ownership in the U.S.? Are you honestly trying to make a "slippery slope" argument from a Mexican gun amnesty program to U.S. law? This whole thread reminds me of guys who are opposed to gay civil unions as if it will somehow mean they have to marry a man.
There are obvious boundaries to this sort of debate: things that allow greater freedom, good; things that take away people's rights, bad. Mexico is not subject to the 2nd Amendment, and they are already forbidden to own guns. What freedom, exactly, is being abridged here? If even one person turns in a gun with good intentions, this program is justified.
Look back at history. Go as far back as you wish. You'll see that corrupt governments have ALWAYS sought to keep their citizens UNARMED.
Mexico is run by twelve corrupt families. They're a narco-kleptocracy and they'd obviously prefer a totally disarmed populace. It's ESSENTIAL for them.
Revolts happen when armed citizens finally reach their breaking point. Those twelve families probably like things the way they are.
When we catch Mexicans sneaking into the US, we should hand them surplus M-16s, 2000 rounds of ammo and send them back home to clean up their rotten government.
Both of our countries would then be better off.
Looking back at history doesn't tell us how to go forward, it just tells us what we might expect.
Removing 150 guns from Mexico, even if all 150 came from otherwise law-abiding citizens, will change nothing. No number of guns can stand against a modern military (feel free to ignore my point and say that 100 people with HE bullets could take out a tank). The details of the American Revolution are not relevant to revolution in the 21st Century, only the underlying reasons.
Feel free to volunteer to be the first Border Guard to hand an illegal immigrant an automatic rifles before telling him to go home. The struggle is not military, it's economic.
As a Mexican, I am highly offended by the comments to this note. There are serious problems in Mexico, as there are in all countries. Primarily Mexico's drug trafficking problem (strongly linked to illegal arms trade) is fueled by the US's drug consumption problem in all levels of its society. No problem is isolated to one country these days, we are all part of a greater problem.
Mexico is NOT controlled by 17 families, that is a ridiculous statement. Mexico's government is not trying to control its citizens by denying them shotguns - this is also a ridiculous statement. In fact, Mexico's government isn't opressive at all, it is corrupt and incapable of winning the war on drugs. Supply will continue as long as demand exists. The south supplies what the north consumes.
And, if anything, this posting is a testament, however minor, to the effort that the government is making to solve the problem. An out of the box solution. Technology for arms - Mexicans need the former a whole lot more. Trust me.
America is a great country, but you are too quick to judge.
Guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people.
hahahahahaha
i allreddfy know how this works, they bye a cheap gun put a gps tracker in the gun... use the computer and google earth to track where the gun gose use real gun to breakinto the place (where guns being decomishond)
steal many more firearms, profit, give one gun with another gps, get another computer......
and repeat till rich and hevely armed
Have another comment....
australia its illegal for you to have a firearm with out a permit, and permits are hard to get,
we have a tiny (per person) crime rate compaired to america i think last count we have maby 140-150 deaths by firearms a year, why dose one need a firearm at all? to Protct one's self all you need is your bare hands, a well trained 80year old will disable you easly, (they accually get better with age, just lose out on reflexs)and all this comspericy talk is stupid, if one need to change goverment look twards people like mahatma Gandhi
they changed the goverment without using any form of weponary, guns are for insucure people
Dont be insucre
Too bad many of you anti-self-defense types didn't see the brave Korean shop owners protecting their businesses in LA during the riots. (Maybe some of you weren't even born yet) I know a few Korean men that are very proficient in Tae Kwon Do but they also know that a firearm is the best means of protecting your life and your family's life.
Maybe you could look it up on a news source of some kind. It was a beautiful sight to see those brave men standing their ground with, OMG, those horrible "Assault (type) Weapons" that all you gun haters scream so loudly about.
Try and remember that society does break down every so often. Can you say "New Orleans"? I thought you could.
"Better to have a weapon and not need it than the other way around."
Wise people realize this. Wise people refuse to give up their weapons. Be wise.