Aim for Peace hits target, but more solutions needed

Alex Bloom

One week into the new citywide Aim For Peace gun buyback program, city officials are already impressed with results. The buyback, which started June 12, collected 92 guns in the first two days and 127 in the first week.

“It’s incredible,” said Deputy Superintendent Darrin Greeley last week. “95 percent of those turning in guns are Boston residents. We’re trying to keep it to Boston residents.”

The new program, which Greeley helped conceive as part of the city’s Strategic Crime Council, rewards those who turn in guns with $200 gift cards at Target. The new approach of using gift cards came in response to criticism for previous buyback programs that handed out cash, allowing the person to turn around and purchase another firearm.

Greeley said the idea of using gift cards came from interviews with Boston residents. The program is being sponsored by many area organizations including the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and the Boston Ten Point Coalition.

“We wanted to get their perspective,” said Greeley. “[The gift cards were] their idea. They can turn [a gun] in and get an Ipod shuffle or a mini or shoes. A mother turning in guns can get clothes or get things for the family.”

Bostonians also seem open to the idea.

“I thought it was interesting given Target’s logo,” said Steve Sousa, 55, a resident of Field’s Corner in Dorchester. “Anything that encourages people to turn in guns is good. It’s kind of a creative, almost outside-the-box type of thinking that might work.”

The reason for the gun buyback is clear. Homicides with a firearm and non-fatal shootings are up an alarming 79 percent in 2006.

“Our crime rate is down,” said Greeley. “The aggregate is down. If we really want to look at crimes causing problems in the community, it’s [non-fatal shootings and homicides].”

And the numbers don’t appear to dipping. Just in the last week in Dorchester alone, 19-year-old Nhuan Nguyen was killed on her front porch on Owencroft St., 65-year-old Jean Baptiste Simeone was grazed by a bullet closing his front gate on Norfolk St., and two 18-year-old males were hospitalized with non life-threatening gunshot wounds on Fayston St.

“The rise in gun violence has me worried,” said Travis Gainey, 27, a lifetime resident of Field’s Corner. “I actually sit and look at the window just to be sure because you know, a bullet has a no name. Regardless if there’s a target or not, when people start shooting into a crowd, you may be shooting at a target, but you could hit anyone. I have seen a definite increase in violence.”

With such a drastic rise in violence, Greeley recognizes that a gun buyback is not the best way to tackle violent crime or the only technique the city has devised.

“It’s one way. There’s many different ways and this is one way we’re trying to do it,” Greeley said. “It’s going to take the collaboration of many different programs – in-school and after-school programs, youth sports programs, mental help for kids affected by shootings.”

Gun buybacks are not a new strategy for dealing with urban crime. Greeley mentioned that the buyback was based on Boston’s buyback conducted from 1993-1996 and also Washington, D.C.’s program from 1999-2000.

A citizens’ group called Citizens for Safety initiated the last Boston gun buyback in conjunction with the Boston Police Department and the office of the Suffolk County District Attorney.

David Kennedy of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City conducted a study on that buyback during his time as a Harvard criminologist. The study concluded that 72 percent of guns recovered by the previous buyback program were pre-1968, meaning that they likely were not guns involved in youth-related shootings, inviting criticism for gun buybacks.

Greeley conceded those criticisms, but expressed hope for the new program.

“We don’t want John Smith from some gun club in rural Massachusetts,” Greeley said. “We want the grandmother turning in two guns she found. We want a young man saying ‘I don’t want to be involved in this life anymore.’ Those are the guns we want.”

However, it’s unlikely that gun buybacks will lead to a lower crime rate.

“There’s no evidence gun buyback programs are effective at reducing violence,” said Sean Varano, an assistant professor at the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern. “They have been tried many times in many cities, but there’s no evidence that they work.”

Even though the Boston police are trying a new approach with Target gift cards, the program is not the answer to the city’s crime problems.

“If you’re going to do it, it is certainly a reasonable modification they made this time around and brings the business community in on the effort,” said Varano. “It’s a reasonable twist but I don’t think it’ll be any more effective than other cities have been in the past.”

Varano pointed out that the city’s most alarming problem is not firearm availability, but instead homicide clearance rate — the rate of arrests made per homicide committed. In Boston the homicide clearance rate is around 40 percent, compared to 65 percent for the national average. Boston police have had trouble with witness intimidation, leaving many homicides uncleared.

“If I’m a witness and I know something about this crime, do I want to come forward if I know the police aren’t likely to make an arrest?” said Varano. “Certainly not.”

Greeley, though, understands that gun buybacks are not the final solution to the crime problem.

“We’re just trying to go at it from every avenue possible,” said Greeley. “92 guns is 92 guns. They’re not out there to harm anyone else. Every little bit helps. This is not the panacea. This is just one part of the puzzle.”

Both Gainey and Sousa suggested that the city could use more of a police presence, while another resident, Tina Wallace, 26, a hair stylist from Field’s Corner, suggested more community programs.

“Especially in urban areas like this they really are watching themselves,” said Wallace. Wallace moved to the Dorchester neighborhood three years ago from Maryland. “It’s good at least for me, I grew up being able to go to Head Start and recreational programs after school or just around the neighborhood. If you don’t have the proper guidance, you can get led astray real quick.”

Greeley echoed Wallace’s sentiments, emphasizing community involvement. According to Greeley, the gun buyback program has both short term and long term goals. City officials hope to get guns off the street in the short term and spark more community involvement in advancement programs in the long term.

“This is a spring board for other community development and so forth,” said Greeley. “It’s going to take all of us to solve it. “Not one individual group or entity. It takes everybody.”

But Greeley insisted that the goal of the program not be misconstrued, saying that the police hope to deescalate violence by removing guns.

“It’s that simple,” said Greeley. “We want to get guns off the street that are causing problems.”