by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The savage murder of nineteen fourth-graders and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, this week weighed heavily on the mind of Ben Beers of Hillsboro, Oregon. The 37-year-old stay-at-home father of two young children, in fact, said that he was so distraught by the killings that he "tossed and turned and cried and shook" instead of sleeping the first night after the massacre.
And by the next morning Ben Beers had decided to do his small part to bring some sanity back to America. He telephoned his local police department and arranged to turn-in his guns - an AR-15 assault rifle and a 9mm handgun - and have them destroyed. The combined value of the two guns was around two thousand dollars, but Beers was not interested in trying to get his investment back. He said in a TikTok post "I just wanted to turn them in, have them destroyed." As of yesterday that posting had more than 200,000 views.
The Hillsboro, Oregon, Police Department, where Mr. Beers subsequently surrendered his guns, does not offer an incentive (cash or vouchers) for relinquishing guns. A spokesman for the department said that they experience a voluntary gun turn-in about once a month, usually when someone dies and the surviving spouse does not want the guns. The department contracts with a private firm to destroy all of the guns that it receives from the public.
By voluntarily removing the guns from his home and having them destroyed, Ben Beers has: 1. lessened the incentive for a thief to break into his home; 2. removed deadly weapons from beyond the reach of his children; 3. rid the world of two potential threats to safety and good order; and, 4. set a good (and very bold) example for others to follow.
Thank you, Mr. Beers, for helping to advance civilization.
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