They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Some pictures are so powerful that there are not enough words to spin away their message.
One scene that the media hoped you would never know about played out before their cameras at the political stunt gun buyback held by Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik last week.
The crews got the pictures, learned the story, and then deliberately tossed them in an online gallery with a hundred others pictures, or left on the television newsroom cutting floor.
She said she came to sell a gun to feed herself for two weeks. The $50 Safeway gift card held the promise of food that she could not afford.
When you are hungry and afraid, the safety a gun might provide, or the fact that you are a bit player in some political hack’s melodrama probably doesn’t enter your mind.
If you live in Tucson, ranked as the 6th poorest metropolitan area in the country, the prospects that you can hold on to what little you have are slim to none. If you live in Tucson, the ravaged roads pitted from neglect and graft help remind of your dim prospects every time you must use your precious gas to get to the unemployment office.
The gun buyback might have been one of the few economic opportunities provided by the City of Tucson in a long time.
According to witnesses, she said she came to sell a gun to feed herself for two weeks. She said she was widowed and wanted to turn her husband’s gun in for food. The $50 Safeway gift card held the promise of food that she could not afford. Now, because of a wonderful system called capitalism, she could feed herself for a month, she said. As she stood in the line which would lead to Steve Kozachik with his stack of gift card a man called out to her and asked if they would be interested in buying her gun for maybe a little more than what the gift card would provide. The man she talked to told her that he would give her $250 cash on the spot for it, if it was legal to sell.
It was. She wept.
The Arizona Daily Star photographer captured the scene, a reporter from KGUN News captured the scene. According to sources, when asked why they didn’t think the story should be shared with the general public, both “news” outlets claimed it wasn’t newsworthy.
They went with the tragic story about the man who turned in the evil gun his brother used to kill himself. That was newsworthy. The hungry woman wasn’t. Perhaps they didn’t run the story because it didn’t serve their anti-gun agenda. Perhaps they didn’t run the story because there are just too many hungry families in Tucson these days………
Thank you, ADI, for once more bringing the truth to your readers once more. You are doing a much-needed service to our community that has been neglected, ignored and buried by the liberal main stream media. BRAVO.
I am glad this lady was able to avail herself of what little freedoms we still do have; however if the liberal/progressive/anti-capitalist control freaks had had their way, she would not have been able to get from a private “business” 5 (FIVE) TIMES what the government had offered her. Hmmmm…..
The Red Star indeed has an agenda which is even stronger than the assumed logic behind selling newspapers. The agenda is to focus on the Leftist message when possible. Pravda has been more accurate about our 2nd Amendment rights than the Red Star. Imagine that!. Consider what we could accomplish downtown if they let Rob O’Dell continue to write about it. Consider what they could do to expose “Mexican American Studies” if they weren’t so pro social justice. The Star is not a community paper, it is an arm of a Leftist agenda.
Kudos to Mike Christy for a great photo, he captured the moment.
I am disappointed that Steve Kozachik and the city of Tucson tried to shaft this person. But I am glad she got real money for the property she sold. As for the media, “on your side” NOT.
Shame on you, Steve.
ADI is the only community paper we have. Actually the only media besides talk radio. You can add this story to the list you published a few days ago concerning the news we are not getting by the MSM.
I appreciate the story…but are all these people missing the fact that there are stores like Murphy’s that buy used guns at any time? And that for anyone who might feel skeevy about selling the gun to someone on the street, they know stores like that will comply with all the applicable rules, even holding the gun the requisite 20 days or so before they sell it. I guess nobody knows you can sell guns like this at any time!
Gun stores will typically give you no more than 50% of what they figure they can get for the gun. A collector will pay you closer to what he believes it’s worth. A $50 Safeway credit for a working gun is an insult.
Craig, that was one of the top reasons for the outcry and cash buyback event. Franzi wrote about it too. When you want to sell anything you own, car, TV, tools, collectibles, there is away to do it. Why the hell is the city rounding up guns? For a political stunt. $50 for a gun is kind of a rip off. But the city likes an uninformed electorate.
Also, on various radio shows, I heard people say that the cash buyers at the event were aware that they needed to keep these in their personal collections for a year to comply with gun laws. These folks also ran the s/n’s just like the city did. I do wonder if the claims that the city violated state law by destroying the guns will prove to be true.
nobody needs to ever do that in my state.You can live and eat better on foodstamps than a working person!
why isn’t she on foodstamps?you can eat like a king in my state on foodstamps.
Loved the human intrest in this story, however the average government wefare recipient if ……..they use every freebee the government has it would total $168.00 dollare a “DAY”. The only other thing I will say is …….if she sold the gun to a bad guy then he made the best deal…..hopefully it (the gun) will not show up at some movie house, or school Just saying…
Bill, did it ever occur to you that maybe she just doesn’t want to use food stamps? I know people who would qualify for food stamps and other assistance but they have too much self respect to use it. Just saying.
I know a “Gentleman” who said he was once in a gunshop having a conversation with the proprietor when a Woman came in with a smile from ear to ear. He said “Are you the Lady with the Musket?” and she replied “yes” he said “Let’s see it” she gently place on the show case something wrapped in a cotton towel he opened the towel and there was a Civil War Musket that you could almost see the crossed cannons on top to indicate it was a Naval Musket. He checked the blue book on the value of it and told her that he believed the value of it to be $1200.00 to a collector. However he said to her if she was interested he would write her a check on the spot for $600.00 to which she immediately said “Yes!”. On the way out the door the young lady remarked “Just to let you know a friend of mine was going to take that to a gun buyback and get $50.00 for it, I recognized immediately its value and offered to dispose of it for her and she told me to get it out of here I don’t want it near my children, or they might get hurt.
Because of the hysteria the liberal progressive socialists have created Family relics are being destroyed due to the ignorance and stupidity they have. People if you want to get rid of a gun then go to a gun shop and see what they will offer you rather than being ripped off by liberal paranoia.