Your experience with gun buy-back programs

[Alan]

I watched someone turn in a rusty break-action shotgun worth maybe $50 and get a $200 gift card. Smart move on their part, questionable use of taxpayer money overall. These programs don't reduce crime but they do let people unload unwanted guns for more than they're worth. Make of that what you will..

 

[nksmfamjp]

The purpose of gun buybacks is to talk about the number of guns taken off the street. You hold a buyback, you get a bunch of retailers to fund a bunch of gift cards, then you talk to the press about how many guns were taken off the street.

Maybe you even hold up an AR 15 you took out of the police Armory to be more impressive looking. These things are not measured on honesty. They are measured on perceived results.

You can even buy back murder weapons, so they are no longer traceable to the actual criminals that use them. It’s really a good scheme for both the politicians and the criminals. It really doesn’t matter that 3/4 or even 99% of the guns sold back at a buyback do not fire or are so worthless as to be unusable.

The purpose is to put a tick mark on a sheet so you can report that we took back XXX number of guns off the street today and it was worth whatever money that cost. It’s also important to let your retailers who funded the gift cards promote their engagement in this through their liberal sources so that they can be seen as great, but only to the people that would see them as great for doing this. It’s important to shield them from mass media coverage, where many of their customers will be appalled that their actions and quit shopping there all together.

 

[Longwalk]

I agree with the above post. To me it's to deceive the public and make them think its reducing crime. How many criminals turn in guns? Answer this this question, WHICH LAW THAT WE HAVE STOPED CRIME ! Maybe this should be another post?

 

[Alan]

The purpose of gun buybacks is to talk about the number of guns taken off the street. You hold a buyback, you get a bunch of retailers to fund a bunch of gift cards, then you talk to the press about how many guns were taken off the street.

Maybe you even hold up an AR 15 you took out of the police Armory to be more impressive looking. These things are not measured on honesty. They are measured on perceived results.

You can even buy back murder weapons, so they are no longer traceable to the actual criminals that use them. It’s really a good scheme for both the politicians and the criminals. It really doesn’t matter that 3/4 or even 99% of the guns sold back at a buyback do not fire or are so worthless as to be unusable.

The purpose is to put a tick mark on a sheet so you can report that we took back XXX number of guns off the street today and it was worth whatever money that cost. It’s also important to let your retailers who funded the gift cards promote their engagement in this through their liberal sources so that they can be seen as great, but only to the people that would see them as great for doing this. It’s important to shield them from mass media coverage, where many of their customers will be appalled that their actions and quit shopping there all together.

Exactly, that $200 for a $50 shotgun shows the system often rewards the wrong behavior.

 

[Alan]

I agree with the above post. To me it's to deceive the public and make them think its reducing crime. How many criminals turn in guns? Answer this this question, WHICH LAW THAT WE HAVE STOPED CRIME ! Maybe this should be another post?

Agreed. Buybacks seem more about optics than results, leaving real crime largely unaffected

 

[Deleted member 30]

I have a couple I'd like to get a deal on like that ($200 gift cert.). We haven't had a buy back around here ever. I guess if i lived in a big city.