By Jeremy Kohler

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

St. Louis — The Board of Police Commissioners on Wednesday shot down Chief Daniel Isom's request to fund a repeat of last year's gun buyback that took more than 500 firearms off the street.

The board took up the matter after one of its members, Mayor Francis Slay, left early from its monthly meeting.

Slay had supported the one-day buyback, but was gone before the vote. In an unusual turn, the remaining members then deadlocked 2-2 on whether to set aside $57,500 in seized drug money to give people an incentive to hand over guns anonymously and with no questions asked.

Without a majority, the measure failed.

Slay would tell Isom later in a letter that he hadn't realized the issue would be controversial.

"I was wrong," he wrote.

Last year's buyback harvested 247 handguns, 161 shotguns, 127 rifles and a machine gun. The department's public relations staff already had planned TV and radio spots to promote the event. The department had been planning to pay $50 for revolvers and shotguns and $100 for "assault-style" weapons.

But board President Chris Goodson said he was against the idea because last year's buyback didn't prevent this year's rising murder rate.

"I'm trying to understand what the benefit is," he told Isom. "If it's to reduce crime, it doesn't seem to have an effect."

Board member Vincent J. Bommarito agreed. "I think it's a waste of money," he said.

In comments after the meeting, Goodson told a reporter that his action — which clearly caught Isom and other department officials off-guard — was proof that, "This board doesn't just rubber-stamp what the department puts before them."

The effectiveness of gun buyback programs is notoriously difficult to assess. Critics say they are expensive "feel-good" measures that do little to reduce violence.

"Goodson is correct — gun buyback programs are a waste of money," said Alex Tabarrok, research director for the Independent Institute, a libertarian public policy think tank based in Oakland, Calif.

"Imagine that instead of guns, police, for whatever strange reason, wanted to get shoes off the streets. Would a shoe buyback reduce the number of people with shoes? Of course not, people would sell their old, tired shoes to the police and new shoes would quickly replace sold shoes. Same thing with gun buybacks."

Isom told Goodson it would be difficult to pinpoint how removing several hundred guns — or not doing it — would affect crime. Police Major Al Adkins argued it would simply be good for the community to have them gone.

Goodson said the money would be better used for buying police gear. He suggested setting up a location for people to simply give back unwanted guns — for free.

But the department's public information officer, Erica Van Ross, stood during the meeting and said she had covered last year's gun buyback as a reporter for KMOV (Channel 4).

"Everyone in line made it abundantly clear that we would not be getting that gun without the money," she said.

Board members Julius K. Hunter and Todd H. Epsten voted in favor of the program. Hunter noted that some people trade guns for Christmas money.

Goodson's retort: That's not the board's function.

Epsten suggested reviving the buyback program, using privately raised funds; Goodson said that was a possibility.

Confusion took over after the meeting, when Goodson said he thought that Bommarito, even after criticizing the buyback, had voted for it.

Bommarito had to be sought out to clarify his vote.

The vote was tied.

Slay's office said the mayor left early to attend meetings regarding the city budget and senior citizen services.

In Slay's letter to Isom, the mayor said the Police Board meeting had run longer than he expected. He told the chief he was in favor of the buyback program.

He added: "I assure you that when it comes up for a second vote, I will vote in the affirmative."