Debra Milke’s Wrongful Conviction and the Future Publicity Fallout

Goodyear, AZ—Debra Milke has languished on Arizona’s Death Row here for more than two decades.  She’s no stranger to unwanted publicity, nearly all of it being outrageous and libelous.

This story all began with Milke’s arrest by a really poor excuse for a cop.   Milke’s four year-old son Christopher was taken out to the desert and murdered by two men, James Styers and Roger Scott.  The cop, Armando Saldate quickly fabricated a claim of a confession that he swore under oath that Milke gave him. 

The reason for the perjury was simple, Saldate thought Milke was somehow involved in the murder and surmised he’d find the real evidence later.  Saldate needed something, anything to justify holding Milke in custody and the phony confession did the trick.

To Saldate’s chagrin no real evidence ever surfaced.  He was stuck repeating his lies under oath before a Grand Jury, a court and petit jury.  20 years later in late 2009 Saldated lied again to a federal judge.   I’m convinced that by his own reprehensible conduct Saldate has been personally tortured with guilt and shame.  Unfortunately that’s the only punishment he’s received so far. 

We all can only imagine the horror of the arrest, confinement, bad food, abuse and abject loneliness of Milke’s miserable ride through the criminal justice system.   In jail and prison there is no privacy including the use of showers and the toilet.  Invasive and humiliating strip searches are an everyday ordeal.

Then over the years the flashing of video and images of Milke in newspapers and TV all connected to a despicable crime in which Milke had no involvement.  Publicity condemning her or even the broadcasts that raise issues of innocence all cause people to wonder if this woman is a terrible child killer.   In the end it’s all something nobody should face especially when they are innocent.

I suspect there is no correspondent anywhere that has produced more TV stories and documentaries than me on this sad case.  I’ve also written a feature film screenplay in addition to the thousands of words on this blog.   It’s what I chose to do for a living and this shocking, compelling story must be told.  I will see this through to the release of this victimized woman.

Milke’s story had every ingredient to drive publicity, books and films.  It made for as fascinating and by far the longest news story that I’ve ever worked on.  Had it not been for the media interest Milke’s case it may have very well have gone unnoticed until some candle light vigil the night before her execution. 

Milke will probably never be able to return to a normal life where people won’t point to her and gossip about her ordeal.  I hope most of it will be kind but unfortunately some of it won’t, as people will always wonder about the idea that’s Milke may have been involved with this disgusting murder.  

Milke has found fame but at a huge price.   For Milke disappearing in our small world will prove impossible.  I have no doubt she will exploit this in a positive and productive way.  How else can she deal with this disaster?

So far only the most unflattering pictures of this otherwise attractive woman are displayed in the media.  Jail and prison mugshots are hardly elegant or even remotely pleasing.  For Milke to see these pictures and images of her in chains must be  pure torture.

Frankly I want more than anything to broadcast the first video of Milke walking out of the best beauty salon wearing the latest fashionable clothing she’s been denied for decades.  Actors and most celebrities choose their exposure.  For Milke this was anything but a choice.   If the public must see Debra Milke, from now on it will be on her terms.

Taking a look at Milke’s mugshot above and you can see a human being.   There’s no make up, nor is there a salon hairdo for her on Death Row.  She appears as a woman with a soul that glares right through her eyes.  Milke could be your sister, daughter, mother, friend, lover, or for that matter anyone from your inner circle.  She could even be you. 

Milke was deprived of a fair investigation, prosecution, trial and was relentlessly tortured by a broken criminal justice system.  We all want to believe this kind of injustice is not tolerated at least in America.   However in recent times we’ve been awash in wrongful convictions.  What can we do to prevent ruined innocent lives in the future?

Milke will realize that like it or not her ordeal will be out in the public domain long after we’ve left this earth.  The story of the crime and the massive failures of our criminal justice system will not soon be forgotten.   Accountability for the injustice or a lack of it in the Milke case will be the topic of conversations for decades. 

Milke has no current professional skills because of being locked away from cell-phones, computers and such.  Challenges like figuring out how to operate a universal remote control for a modern wide screen TV and Blu-Ray player are in her immediate future.  Milke needs to earn income but more importantly she must find her own productive, creative and passionate way to serve a purpose for society.

Now Debra Milke will be in demand as a public speaker for lawyer’s groups and such across the United States and Europe.   This event changed her life and she has learned to adapt by necessity.  Milke has been a survivor, keeping her sanity and her written communication skills in spite of her ordeal.  At 49, what will her future and occupation dictate? 

Milke can be the greatest anti-death penalty advocate ever.  Milke will undoubtedly inspire lawyers, law students, investigators and journalists to better safeguard the rights of innocents.  I know of at least one  former President of Switzerland that told me she wants to me her. 

I must admit that Milke’s misfortune has inspired me to not stand idly by and let a human rights nightmare happen right before my eyes.  It is something that’s very easy to do.  I have had to ask myself often, if I screamed about this case louder and earlier could I have made a difference?  Sadly I know now that the answer is yes. 

Right now I’m waiting breathlessly to hear a Maricopa County judge pronounce on the record that this nightmare is over.  That day may be only days or weeks away now depending on how fast Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery moves this inevitable process. 

Why We Must Purge Our Whitehouse of Those Chicago Thugs, Thieves and Whores Now.

Washington, DC—As a nation we were in a crisis because of eight years of a disappointing presidency under George W. Bush.  He engaged in two wars we should have avoided.  We allowed our government to reward Wall Street criminals at every opportunity and the taxpayers took a huge beating.  The real estate bubble broke and bled over millions of Americans.

Americans wanted change and looked to an unknown man with a broad smile who made vague promises for hope and change.  Nobody could really guess just what his agenda was but anything seemed better than Bush.  Barack Obama was a Chicago Machine Democrat.  This is not your father’s Chicago Machine but the new breed of hard corps Leftists using long established and proven techniques of voter fraud, bribery and extortion to win elections and hold office.

Obama somehow escaped any real vetting and his birth origin questions seemed to help rather than sideline the candidate.  Absolutely every expert that has examined it has declared his birth certificate a forgery.  That eligibility issue became nothing more than a distraction met by the smirks of those supporting Obama. 

We all have learned to judge a man by the company he keeps.  Obama’s mentors were to a one, Communists, criminals or terrorists and his closest religious advisor was and is a hateful bigot.  Obama bought his lavish, Chicago Hyde Park home from a well-connected political fundraiser and now imprisoned criminal Anton “Tony” Rezko for a “fire sale” price. 

Obama was very close to now imprisoned Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and the fellow that was nearly sold his vacant Senate seat, Jessie Jackson, Jr.  who is now also a convicted criminal. 

Helping and advising Obama and his political campaign were Chicago’s Terrorist Twosome, William “Bill” Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn of the 1960’s SDS Weather Underground bombing fame. 

Who could ever forget Obama’s closest religious advisor, the infamous Rev. Theodore “God Damn America” Wright.  Wright was and is a nasty and racist man that simply preached hate.

We can’t forget how Obama sidestepped a normal Senate vetted cabinet in favor of a group of “Czars” he hired in secret that he brought in to run our nation.

Obama wasted no time is doling out hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to now failed companies as rewards for their political loyalty to him.  The job creation benefits of these corrupt handouts were non-existent. 

The Liberal Media turned their eyes far away from all of the disturbing signs.  As for the historic agenda of America’s Democratic Party there are no victories at all. 

Instead of getting out wars Obama found new ones to engage.  Instead of repealing the dreaded Patriot Act, Obama made it even more tyrannical if that were possible.  Obama then ended the Posse Comitatus Act allowing for our military to police or make war on Americans here at home. 

The final insult was the NDAA that authorized the indefinite detention without trial or the right to a lawyer of Americans here at home.  We somehow managed to give this strange man with the broad smile ABSOLUTE POWER over our children and us.

Our Death Penalty is awash in a crisis of wrongful convictions and that has not gotten a single notice from the Whitehouse.

Our failed Drug War continues to provide Drug Lords and Drug Czars financial Nirvana while people innocent people are killed at an alarming rate.  Obama’s Whitehouse has avoided this issue at all cost. 

GITMO is still open despite Obama’s promises to close it.  Holding prisoners without charges or trials is simply wrong and un-American but no movement can be seen from Obama.  Are Americans at risk for more random Muslim bombings over this?

The Whitehouse and the appointed Homeland Security Director, Janet Napolitano, have criminally obstructed our immigration laws.  They are pushing hard for amnesty that would decimate the financial stake of all of America’s legal immigrants and African-American poor.   They would be forced to compete for jobs and entitlements with hordes of uninvited trespassers breaking our laws.

Now I must really make the comparison of the worst despotic leaders of the world that all came in with a false appearance of being peace loving, benevolent and kind. They gave us the worst government sponsored holocausts.  What’s past is prologue and we humans never seem to understand that.  We never learn from our mistakes.

Obama’s own media lapdogs have discovered that the Obama Administration’s been spying on them and unleashing the IRS on those considered disloyal.   The media has been told what to report by the Whitehouse and they’ve followed orders.  Having their phones tapped has rewarded them all. Historically government agents tap the phones of news editors and reporters to learn secrets of extra-marital affairs, homosexuality and tax dodging along with any other issues that enable extortion efforts. 

Will the media continue to turn a blind eye to Obama’s tyranny?  Perhaps Obama’s media lapdogs are already victims of Chicago style extortion?   That well may explain their reluctance to report on Obama’s bogus birth certificate, the horrors of the Fast and Furious Scandal or the Benghazi Slaughter and subsequent cover ups.

Latest Update on Debra Milke as of May 14, 2013

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Debra Milke

Today, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has indicated that Attorney General Tom Horne declined efforts to further petition against the actions of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  That court set aside the convictions and death sentence of Debra Milke.

There is now a single matter of the enforcement of an order for the Phoenix Police Department to turn over any and all records they have regarding former detective Armando Saldate to the defense before a federal judge.  This issue should be resolved very quickly.

Montgomery then has 60 days in which to seek a retrial of Milke.  Today Montgomery informed reporters that he was looking for ways to settle the matter without the expense of a retrial.  He also acknowledged that do to the passage of time and other problems retrying the case now would be very difficult.

Settling the case seems to suggest a plea agreement with Milke.  I’m reasonably convinced that will never happen.  Milke is represented by two top Arizona lawyers, Mike Kimerer and Lori Voepel

I expect Milke to be transferred from Perryville Prison's Death Row to the Maricopa County Jail within as little as a week or maybe two.  She will be brought before a judge for a status hearing.  If there is somehow a retrial effort Milke will be entitled to a bail hearing.  The normal bail issues such as danger to the community, proof being evident and the presumption being great do not exist now making release on bail a likely option. 

I’ve personally investigated all of Montgomery’s options and they show no promise for a successful retrial.  Evidence beyond the words of a discredited, deceitful and rogue cop does not exist.  The more they try to stir this pot of excrement the worse it will smell.  

I hope that Montgomery can find a graceful exit that will not cost taxpayers more because of yet another bad faith prosecution of this woman.

  

Debra Milke’s 23 Years of Hell on Earth

Goodyear, AZ—In this hot dusty town just west of Phoenix sits the Perryville Prison.  It was built in 1980 to relieve overcrowding in the state’s rapidly growing prison system.  It began with a population of all men.  It was intended to be only a medium security prison.

Women serving time in Arizona were housed at an old Phoenix motel sitting on the Northwest corner of 32^nd and Van Buren Streets.  The State converted the motel to a prison but inside it was still a motel by all appearances.  The Drug War had this facility nearly bursting from overpopulation.  Today women are housed in the much larger Perryville and now it’s an all women’s prison.

Professionally, I’ve been in countless jails and prisons in scores of states.  I’ve eaten in their staff dining areas and have even slept in them overnight on occasion.  Along the way I have sat in the Cook County Jail’s well-used electric chair and Arizona’s Gas Chamber in Florence.  I’ve also been inside modern lethal injection rooms in Arizona, Texas and Illinois.

On December 3, 1989, I was asked to get inside Maricopa County’s new Madison Street Jail to interview Debra Milke.  She’d just been arrested so she was in the receiving area finishing up the booking procedure being photographed and fingerprinted.  I could see the remains of black fingerprint ink on her fingers.  We were given a quiet corner inside the “Horse shoe” area to talk privately.  We sat on a small wooden bench and talked.  I taped the entire interview using a hidden tape recorder.

Milke was accused of a crime that placed her at the lowest possible social level in a correctional setting.  She was an accused baby killer.  The staff and inmates assumed her guilt for the monstrous crime and treated her accordingly.  I’ve heard accounts of this treatment from Milke, Maricopa County Jail detention officers, lawyers and a decade later Milke’s own mother. 

Milke was a celebrity pariah in jail. She was really hated.  Although she was going through incredible misery Milke was personable and gracious with everyone.   Many staff members of the jail grew to like and believe in her.  Other’s just wanted to see Milke dead. 

Particularly in the beginning, fellow inmates tampered with Milke’s food.  One such incident stands out to me as incredibly horrible and cruel.  I’m not sure that a detention officer was not involved in the incident.  For now those details are locked in my screenplay, Railway to Death Row, The Debra Milke Story.

It was on August 1, 1990, the day before Milke was sentenced to the gas chamber; I again interviewed her for over an hour and a half with a crew from Channel 10.  This time it was on camera.  This took place at the facility located at 35^th and Durango Avenues. 

Milke spent most of a year in the Maricopa County jail in a pre-trial and conviction situation.  When she was sentenced to death they transported her to Perryville.  At the time Perryville had men and women in separate areas. 

The Santa Maria Unit housed the new one-woman death row.  Later the men were moved out and a maximum-security area was delegated as Death Row inside the Lumley Unit.  Two other women eventually joined Milke on this new Death Row.  They were each caged in separate 12X7 foot cells. 

Perryville has no execution chamber.  A condemned woman would have to be transported to the prison in Florence, Arizona for execution.  Milke of course was sentenced to the gas chamber but the method was changed to lethal injection and she made the required choice to go with the hot needle.  The gas chamber still awaits condemned prisoners that have not elected for lethal injection.

The only woman to ever be executed in Arizona was on February 21, 1930.  Eva Dugan was hanged for killing her boss.  Her hanging took place at the old CB2 Cell House gallows. Dugan was somewhat overweight and the hangman botched the event as the noose decapitated her.  Dugan’s head was sent rolling at horrified spectators.  Soon authorities sought less garish ways to execute the condemned and brought in lethal gas and today IV poisons.

Perryville has no air conditioning for the inmates, only evaporative coolers that can’t keep up with the sweltering summers.  Milke is limited to three showers per week and had to decide to sleep on the concrete floor where it’s cooler or in her sweat filled bunk.

Milke gets lots of mail much of it from Germany where people abhor the death penalty.  Milke has no computer to help reply to the letters and instead writes them in longhand.  Milke’s writings contain no misspellings, are grammatically correct and her penmanship is downright pretty. 

Her life is absolutely solitary confinement.  She sees staff members at meal times when her food is delivered.  She is chained up like an animal whenever she leaves her cell for visits or exercise.

Imagine decades without hugs or a reassuring hand on yours during difficult moments.  This woman has spent the very best years of her life in a Gulag.  She came in vibrant and young.  She will soon leave middle-aged and menopausal complete with white hair.

None of us have walked in Milke’s shoes.  I can’t help but wonder what trauma she will face in public crowds today.  She’s never operated a modern computer or cell phone before.  She’s been reduced to cutting her own hair using a nail clipper because she has no other way.

I think of a nice German TV (ARD) reporter I worked with on this story about a year ago.  She was affluent, traveled and cultured.  She quickly noticed that there was an Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Salon at the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix.  She could not wait to book some time there for the treatment.

I thought of Milke and how terrific it could be for her to spend a day at the Red Door getting ready to face a new world she’s never seen.  Milke has been wearing only bright orange jumpsuits and sneakers for over two decades.  I can’t imagine she does not long to dress up to the nines for an event or social setting.  Milke has lots of clothing, pre-1989 but now she will need a new wardrobe.  Restaurants, entertainment venues and technology will all have surprises for Milke who’s been locked in a time capsule for so long.

Milke has great adventures and challenges ahead.  She will never get those years of her life returned.  She will move on and make the best of the time she has left.   Just how will people react to Milke today? 

How could the lies of a dirty cop do so much damage?  Why did it take nearly 24 years to end this woman’s incredible nightmare?

The Phil Spector School of Rock, at The Rock.

Corcoran State Prison, CA—In this tough prison there are few bright spots.  Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan and many other convicted criminals who have committed despicable crimes wait here to simply die.   

Most other inmates will quickly get out and the rate of return is astronomical. Of course they destroy lives along the way.  Our correctional institutions do anything but correct.  They are almost all, in reality advanced schools of crime and violence.

We have locked up millions of young people in what we call correctional institutions.  We demand they turn their lives around but have made that daunting task impossible.  Perhaps it’s because we place them with one another where they can form peer groups of despair, destruction and depravity.  This concept can only fail.

Most of these convicted losers come from ignorance, poverty and are raised by the worst mentors society has to offer.  We only make things worse for them.

I have no magic cure for the drug addicted but for others we can reclaim lost and stolen lives.  We can do this with the resources we already have.

To succeed in society we all need skills.  What prisons offer can barely help people obtain and keep the lowest paying jobs.  Criminal records will keep them from conventional employment because nobody wants to take unnecessary risks by hiring felons.

Entertainment provides thousands of jobs and felons can get work there if they obtain skills and can behave themselves.  We don’t perform background checks on the people making CD’s, DVD’s and working the nightclub entertainment circuit.  The only thing that counts is if they can take the rest of us on that special ride.

Prisons have the talent to do this but it’s the ineffective losers who run them that are barely superior to the inmates.   The talent for this already lies within their walls.

Musical genius Phil Spector is rotting in the California prison system.  He has no choice, but the people housing him do.  They can give Spector a few perks, equipment and let him bring musical skills to fellow prisoners.   This man made many millionaires out of everyday people wandering through New York’s Brill Building. 

I’d start, The Phil Spector School of Rock.  I’d first make a call for musical instruments to be donated.  I’d create a magnet prison for inmates statewide that want to learn music and let them earn admission through good behavior and motivation and inclination.  

Phil Spector could be convinced to become the dean of this venture because he is qualified and all too available.  We need not guess that Spector has his own needs for creativity too. 

Imagine for a moment the implications of such a venture.  Students learning, great music and a soon there’d be weekly TV broadcast like Austin City Limits from a prison!  Along the way how many lives could we save?  How many fewer murders, robberies and violent crimes would be stopped because inmates develop a new passion other than crime?

What we are doing now is pure failure.  What do we have to lose by trying this?  After that, Drama, Dance and Comedy schools could emerge from inside every prison in America.  We can make great things happen if we at least try.

Jodi Arias Trial Is a Groundbreaking, Government Sponsored, Social Media Lynching!

Phoenix, AZ—American Justice has taken a shameful turn here with the murder trial involving a troubled young woman.  Jodi Arias is on trial for her life but throngs of has been television pundits along with a Social Media lynch mob have been allowed to seriously corrupt our trial process.

With today’s technology the vast majority of jurors can be counted upon to break every rule to avoid media and get their verdict guidance from all the wrong places.

A public criminal trial was never an invitation to turn a metropolis into a worldwide entertainment event.  Aside from a celebrity prosecutor mugging for photos with his new fans while signing autographs this inquisition extravaganza has been out-of-control from the beginning. 

Cries of Justice for Travis Alexander, the young murder victim seem to suggest he will somehow be resurrected after the hanging of Jodi Arias.  Millions of young women have injected themselves emotionally into this trial and are demanding the jury reach a guilty verdict and death sentence.  They all want to watch a public execution.

The government here has sponsored this Roman Coliseum style event and should at least have opened a box office to collect money from the worldwide lynch mob.  TV rights, advertising placards on the courthouse and the court personnel and witnesses should wear logo tee shirts.  The shirts worn by the defendant and her lawyers could defray the defense costs.  Absurd?  No more absurd than what they have already created.

Trial must be public but live broadcasting; tweeting and curbside television studios outside the courthouse are beyond over the top. 

They way to end these freak shows is for a higher court to invalidate any convictions obtained as they set the accused free.   Doing that would cause suicides among these pathetic true crime swine, court viewers that must watch these trials because they don’t have lives of their own.

One thing for sure the jury has plenty of guidance from the fine people sending them important thoughts on Twitter.

UPDATE!!!  The jury has announced that they have reached a verdict.  It will be read at 1:30 PM Phoenix time.  Perhaps they should call in Nancy Disgrace from her HNL street studio and have her read the verdict!  

THE VERDICT:  The jury voted Guilty of Capital Murder as the huge bloodthirsty lynch mob cheered outside.  Disgraceful to say the least.  

APPEAL? It will be automatic with a litany of disasters that robbed this woman of a fair trial.  Decades and million of dollars will be wasted trying to kill this woman...

Whitehouse Propagandists Claim 90% of Americans want Expanded Background Checks. Really?

Protesters across from The George Brown Convention Center in Houston Texas

Houston, TX—The National Rifle Association just held their Annual Meeting here.  Membership of the NRA tops five million.  This meeting hosted a record crowd of over 86,000 folks that came in from all 50 states.   The economy of Houston was boosted along with public safety.  You see most of the NRA members came armed with lawful loaded and concealed weapons. 

As for that 90% claim there were about two-dozen determined demonstrators that can be seen above.  I guess it’s time to wonder where these 90% are hiding.  The answer is abundantly clear that 90% figure is the product of an Obama wet dream.

I was hanging out for a while with none other than Glen Beck at the Eagle Grips booth who seemed to like Mother of Pearl and Ivory grips for some of his personal firearms.

Glen Beck visiting with Paul Huebl

  

Walmart Bathrooms are Filthy and Disgusting.

Houston, Texas—While visiting a local Walmart getting supplies for our exhibition for last weeks NRA Convention I visited the bathroom. 

This is a filthy and unnecessary blight on an otherwise well-established American brand.  They obviously don’t take pride on having sanitary bathrooms.  This one was average or better than most for Wal Mart stores in America.

On every stainless steel panel in the stalls or next to the urinals there are various bodily fluids that are growing bacteria and germs from Hell.  I’m sure children wind up touching this vile material with their little hands.

My question is how difficult would it be to clean this hazardous filth up?   Every Walmart Bathroom seems to have the nasty, caked up filth like this.  Why don’t they take a little more pride?  This is sad indeed.  

Check out this video!

Breaking News, Debra Milke Closer to Being Cleared and Freed!

San Francisco, CA—The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied the request by Attorney General Tom Horne to rehear the Debra Milke decision that overturned her death sentence and convictions.

This puts this woman that has spent nearly 24 years much closer to freedom.  

Arizona Has Decimated the Liberal, Feel Good “Gun Buy-Back” Schemes!

Guns from a recent Tucson Buy-back event. 

Phoenix, AZ—In Phoenix and Tucson there is the Large City Disease called Liberalism.  For some reason the larger cities of our nation attracts the Looney political Left and their facilitation of poverty, crime and ignorance. 

Between the larger cities are the smaller ones and the rural areas inhabited for the most part by hard working, law-abiding, and taxpaying productive people. 

The political Right controls the productive and peaceful areas.  The Left abets violence, dependence and ignorance in the places under their control.  It’s is a simple fact that per-capita violence, crime and despair is always over the top in large cities run by the Left.  The collective self-esteem of big city inhabitants is usually right in the toilet.

The Left hates gun rights preferring that their intended victims cannot endanger criminals.  The bans against possession and the carrying of firearms; serves as nothing more than a “Mugger Protection Act”. 

The Left renamed numerous ordinary firearms as, Assault Weapons demonizing them.  Gun safety is a term for handling firearms in a way to avoid accidents.  The Left has renamed that as, "Sensible Gun Laws.”  Their so-called Sensible Gun Laws are simply bans of every description and obstacles that only impact the law-abiding people. 

The Left has found a terrific way to waste tax money and sometimes involve sponsors from the community.  They are the gun buy-back events.  These government gadflies invite anyone and everyone to exchange unwanted guns including toys for tax money!  No questions are asked as they hand out the cash, sneakers and debit cards.  Leftist media collaborators give the politicians free face time while promoting the massive waste.  Then the Liberals all pat each other on the back as the collected firearms are destroyed by wasteful fools.  

Arizona found a great way to stop the ineffective and wasteful buy back events.  They simply created a state law forbidding the destruction of the collected firearms.  Any firearms collected for any reason by state or local government agencies must be sold to law-abiding citizens.   

Phoenix and Tucson can deal with crime by sending the tax money to schools, police agencies and foster parents.  That might actually work to reduce crime far more effectively than these gun buy-back charades.