Gun “Buy Back” Programs Continue, Despite Being Ineffective
Plenty of politicians and anti-gunners love gun turn-ins, often incorrectly called “buy backs.” (As one GunLink Forum user says, “How can you buy something you never owned ‘back’, using other people’s money?”) Misnomer or otherwise, the facts point to these programs being largely ineffective wastes of money, often at the expense of taxpayers.
For example, a recent Chicago Tribune OpEd states that six such events conducted over the past six years have yielded over 23,000 weapons turned in. One highly touted event alone claimed to remove over 4,000 weapons from the streets, (despite nearly all of them not being “on the streets” in the first place and nearly 700 being fakes or replicas anyway). For some, this makes little difference. As New Haven, Connecticuit, Assistant Police Chief Tobin Hensgen says in regard to gun turn-in events: “Even an unusable gun can be used to scare or intimidate.” Perhaps when the knife “buy back” events start up, we can make a little money with some rulers and silver spray paint.
Despite some of the strictest gun laws in the nation and the popular turn-in events, murders and Continue reading
