The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has repeated its Cash for Guns program this year in an attempt to make the County safer -- it will, but only for criminals.

For those not familiar with the program, County officials offer to fence stolen property and, potentially worse, destroy evidence of unsolved crimes by paying cash anonymously to people wishing to dispose of guns and other weapons. Then the County officials deliberately destruct these government assets paid for with our tax dollars.

Aside from the questionable policies of aiding and abetting criminals, and wasting taxpayers' money, the real problem with the program is that it doesn't work! County officials mistakenly believe that reducing the number of guns makes us safer, when in fact, just the opposite is true - guns save lives.

When asked how many lives the program saves, Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye's response was, "Who knows. It's impossible to say." Well, at least he is honest - it's impossible to say because the program doesn't save any lives.

Empirical research by John Lott, in his perfectly titled book, "More Guns, Less Crime" statistically proves guns prevent 2 to 2 ½ million crimes each year. With the number of guns in the U.S. estimated to be between 200 to 240 million that means for approximately every 100 guns, one crime per year is prevented. Therefore, the 631 guns taken off the streets last year in Monmouth County from this program resulted in approximately six more crimes being committed.

Criminals are not stupid - with fewer guns, crime goes up, e.g., Washington, D.C, and when the number, or accessibility, of guns goes up, crime goes down, e.g., Florida. These are facts, not opinions, not spin doctoring, and not emotional feelings. For anyone who does not believe guns save lives, ask yourself which house you would rob, one that has a sign stating, "This is a Gun Free Zone," or one stating, "Owner is Armed, Accurate and Anti-Criminal."

While I applaud anyone who takes action to reduce crime, I condemn our County officials for being ignorant, at best, of the facts. Wasting taxpayer money on this program, while making the County safer for criminals and less safe for the rest of us, is shameful. Let's get criminals off the streets, not guns. Does anyone seriously believe that guns cause crime? That's as idiotic as saying forks make people fat!

But at least I understand the politicians are trying to get a few votes from an uninformed electorate. However, I don't understand why the Editors of the Asbury Park Press, in a June 10 Editorial in support of this program, state that it's "a delusion" to believe guns "in the hands of the populace provides protection against the bad guys." The main purpose of a gun is to provide protection. Why is this delusional?

But what really galls me is that the Press repeats the myth, "The United States has more guns - and more deaths by gunfire - than any nation with which Americans like to compare themselves." The U.S. is a large country, so total numbers are meaningless. Let's compare murder rates in the U.S. to Russia and Brazil - nations that, according to John Lott, either completely banned guns or largely banned guns and now have murder rates four times higher than what we have in the U.S.

The subtlety-hidden problem with the Press Editorial and the "Cash for Guns" program is they imply violence in the U.S. is gun related - and it's not. According to Iain Murray, of Statistical Assessment Service, the U.S. homicide rate (from all causes) for children four and younger is more than quadruple that of other Western countries, but for every gun homicide more than eight others die violently by other means. For the 5 to 14 age group, the American nongun murder rate is still more than twice as high as the international comparison group. Face the facts; America is a violent country with or without guns.

Does anyone really believe that we will be safer in the future if the government continues this insane practice of indiscriminately buying guns from anyone without question? Do you really believe that more helpless you are the safer you become? The basic premise of the gun control movement, that guns, or easy access to guns, cause higher crime, is simply false and is contradicted by the facts and common sense. Let's hope more people see through the false premise of this program and realize that it's the criminals that are the problem, not the guns.

Lou Elwell, of Long Branch, is Secretary of Libertarians of Monmouth County. Comments can be emailed to LibertarianLou@aol.com.