The San Carlos gun buyback on Dec. 14 edition of the Daily Journal by Zachary Clark (headlined in your paper on Dec. 12) was a disappointment. Your story described it as simple as dropping off an unwanted gun and receiving up to $100 (handgun) or $200 (rifle), “no questions asked.” But when I arrived, a long line of cars stretched down Skyway Road. After idling for 20 minutes, the line advanced only one car length. Nobody was available to explain the delay. “No questions asked,” really? Then what was taking so long?
When I counted the vehicles ahead of me and realized I’d be idling for at least two more hours, I went home. Others did too. I hope future buybacks are better organized.
Hi Tom, sorry you found the San Carlos gun buyback program frustrating.
I checked with Mark Duri, our police chief (who is a Captain in the San Mateo County Sheriff's office, from whom we get our law enforcement services) about the wait times.
The longest he'd heard of that day was about 25 minutes or so. While that's not unusual for recent gun buybacks I can understand how some people would find it too long. It's just that we've noticed a lot of interest in these events, which is good, and they require a lot of Sheriff's Department staff to administer safely and properly.
If you have specific thoughts on how the process could be improved, or if you'd like to know more about how the Sheriff Department runs these events, I encourage you to contact Chief Duri directly. He's very approachable.
- Mark Olbert
Member, San Carlos City Council
The opinions and perspectives expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of the City of San Carlos or its City Council.
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(1) comment
Hi Tom, sorry you found the San Carlos gun buyback program frustrating.
I checked with Mark Duri, our police chief (who is a Captain in the San Mateo County Sheriff's office, from whom we get our law enforcement services) about the wait times.
The longest he'd heard of that day was about 25 minutes or so. While that's not unusual for recent gun buybacks I can understand how some people would find it too long. It's just that we've noticed a lot of interest in these events, which is good, and they require a lot of Sheriff's Department staff to administer safely and properly.
If you have specific thoughts on how the process could be improved, or if you'd like to know more about how the Sheriff Department runs these events, I encourage you to contact Chief Duri directly. He's very approachable.
- Mark Olbert
Member, San Carlos City Council
The opinions and perspectives expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of the City of San Carlos or its City Council.
Welcome to the discussion.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.