Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
James Poulos ·
January 5, 2013 at 8:10pm
As far as I can tell, gun buyback programs are the only "gun control" policies that manage to be:
* Immediate;
* Voluntary;
* Popular;
* Market-driven; and
* Effective.
Plus, they're not reliant on Washington legislators or bureaucrats. Doesn't that amount to a slam dunk case for everyone to support them, starting right now? Especially given the alternatives we're hearing from the house-to-house-confiscation crowd on the one hand, and the arm-the-teachers crowd on the other?
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
I suspect the comments on this post aren't going to be. . .pretty.
May '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
And they whiten your teeth and make you more popular at parties.
Dec '12
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
I can follow most of aspects (I, V, P, M) that the poster claims. Any grounding or hard evidence that gun buyback programs are effective?
Jan '11
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
In what way are they effective? The claim to effectiveness seems to be based on an assumption that the presence of a gun causes crime. I believe that premise to be false. What evidence is there that a person willing to turn his gun in for a gift card was likely to use that gun to commit a crime?
Mar '11
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Yes. Effective at accomplishing what exactly?
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
James,
Could you explain what you mean by "work"?
Chicago (over 500 homicides last year) and Detroit (386 homicides in '12) both ran gun buyback programs in 2012. These numbers are not only terribly high, they also reflect significant increases over the previous year.
Jul '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Gun buybacks are a joke. They ran one here several years ago, and the gun theft numbers shot up. So essentially they were paying criminals to steal guns from law abiding citizens. They haven't uttered a word about another one since.
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Roberto
Yes. Effective at accomplishing what exactly? · 4 minutes ago
I mean people show up with guns -- that's it. Even if buyback isn't effective among people who (a) really really want to keep their guns and (b) use them irresponsibly/dangerously, I don't think that's the proper measure of the effectiveness, or purpose, of buyback.
Oct '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
These programs are simlar the "Cash for Clunkers" in reality. Simply a Feel Good measure for PR and will do nothing to save lives. Period.
Jan '11
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
James Poulos
Roberto
Yes. Effective at accomplishing what exactly?
I mean people show up with guns -- that's it. Even if buyback isn't effective among people who (a) really really want to keep their guns and (b) use them irresponsibly/dangerously, I don't think that's the proper measure of the effectiveness, or purpose, of buyback.
So what would be the proper measure?
The only situation I can envision where gun-buys would be helpful is when an elderly person A) owns a firearm, B) doesn't want it anymore, B) lacks the means/time to sell it, and C) worries such weapons might be stolen by a murderer in their family. I'm certain that happens, but does anyone know how often?
While gun-buys don't get up my 2nd-Amendment hackles, I'm not convinced they're an effective use of tax dollars. Do you know something I don't?
Sep '12
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
I don't know a lot of hard facts regarding gun buy- back programs, but here are a few points I've heard anecdotally:
Apr '12
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Mr. Poulos (in Forbes) quotes an LAT article about the wonderfulness of a recent buyback. I don't believe a word of it. The LAT has no interest in a frank evaluation any gun buyback, and the LAT article is basically a fluff piece to make liberals in and out of government feel they are "making a difference".
Gun buybacks are not immediate, popular, market-driven, or effective. Anybody who participates in a buyback program is either disposing of junk (for more than market value), a government-sponsored shill, or foolish.
Buybacks are mistaken in theory. The problem isn't too many guns. The problem is too few guns in the hands of responsible people.
Dec '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
And they give you an opportunity to get rid of the evidence.
Four wounded in Oakland shooting blocks from gun buy back site
Jul '12
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
I recently had guns stolen and the deputy sheriff who took the report said there's a chance we'll find them through pawnshop transactions...but we're out of luck if there's a buy back in the area. The deal is usually a "no questions asked" proposition and the guns go directly to meltdown. So, the guy doesn't have to risk anything...he steals my guns and then collects my taxpayer dollars to go buy meth.
Kumbaya, my lord...Kumbaya!
May '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
It's your right to sell your own guns. It's my right not to buy your guns.
This is not what taxes are for.
Edited on January 5, 2013 at 9:37pmJun '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
This would be merely the politics of the "empty gesture." It will not reduce gun violence, but it will waste tax dollars.
Just another version of Cash for Clunkers.
Dec '12
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
So instead of taking my guns, take my money (via increased taxes) to give to other people for guns they don't want anyway?I am afraid I was baited into responding to what might have been a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic and obviously non-starter solution.
Oct '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Like Tom Meyer, I think they are a waste of taxpayer's money, but if anyone is willing to sell their gun like this, I'm probably happier with them not having one. I wonder if stolen guns from other areas flood in? If the gun can't be traced, the government is a pretty safe fence.
Jun '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Gun buybacks might be effective for a useful purpose if a few things happened:
1) There is a firearms expert on hand to evaluate the guns. Until significant pushback, one city wanted to destroy a gun turned in by a widow which ended up being one of 3 prototypes of the pistol used by the Japanese in WWII, worth a quarter-million dollars. She could have been directed to a more appropriate disposition method.
2) Guns are traced, and if listed stolen, you're in trouble. No reason to pay criminals to steal or turn in murder guns. Giving someone $200 to prevent solving a crime seems a bad use of public funds. Let 'em toss 'em into the river. They won't turn in crime guns unless they're done with crime.
3) Good quality guns are turned over to an FFL and are thus available at used prices to the legit buyer.
So you get rid the guns people no longer want, are afraid to keep, etc. It thus also keeps the city out of being accessories-after-the-fact in the crime-gun laundering business.
May '10
Re: Gun Buyback: A Real Kumbaya Moment?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Buy-back programs spend public money and have no effect on crime rates. They do get guns out of people's hands, but often those guns are 1) legally-owned anyhow, 2) junk guns that couldn't be used in a crime or for any other reason other than display, 3) occasionally guns used in a crime for which the buy-back program is an excellent way for a criminal to dispose of evidence.