Teardown Tuesday: Gun Buyback Programs

Today Seattle announced a gun buyback program. Today I will tear the guts out of it. Worse still Amazon is also supporting this with some gift certificates.Gun buyback programs do not work. Let's go over this in detail.Let's say, like in Seattle, the gun will get you $100.00 no questions asked. So, who would give up a gun of any type for $100.00?

1. Broken or non-functional crap. The LA buyback program recently got a couple "rocket launchers." Yes, at one point it launched a rocket. Now it's a tube with no rocket. It's less functional than a baseball bat for attack purposes, however you might be able to fix your plumbing. Or perhaps my dad's old Phoenix Arms .22 -- that is patently unsafe (though I'm not selling it). Or perhaps a broken wall-hanger. None of these would be used in a crime.
2. Old widows trading in their husbands "scary" guns. My mom nearly did this -- except for free by giving them to the local police. This is nothing more than preying on the ignorant. A valuable 1911 or a war trophy wouldn't be destroyed anyway. Again, none of these guns would be used in a crime.
3. Guns that were used in a crime. If you had a gun you needed to get rid of, what better way to do it than to get some money for it instead of dumping it in the ocean. That way you could buy a new, clean (literally and figuratively both), gun. Oh, buy the way, they could use the money to help finance that new gun. Oh, and another thing, the evidence is also gone -- great job!

Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? Someone who needs money. If you knew what something is worth, you would sell it for that.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? Someone who actively uses their gun for protection -- like the criminals that need it to keep safe. Criminals, while stupid for the most part, do still have a sense of self-preservation for the most part.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? Someone who likes and appreciates their collection. (Unless they want to cull a broken one from the herd)Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? Someone who has a concealed carry permit they use regularly.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? An outdoorsman/outdoorswoman who needs protection from the wildlife.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? An enthusiast who uses it for competition like skeet, or biathlon, or simple bulls-eye contests.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? The paranoid survivalist.Who wouldn't give up their gun for $100? A hunter.

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Take a minute to think about this. Be rational. Don't fall into the trap of doing something to just get yourself busy doing something. If the aforementioned something doesn't do a damn bit of good why are you even thinking about it. Whether or not you like the people that wouldn't give up their gun, the fact remains that those are not the guns that are being collected.So on one hand you are drawing the short moral straw in three different ways:

1. Negative-margin waste disposal
2. Preying on the ignorant and ill-informed
3. Helping destroy evidence

On the other hand you are spending public funds in a way that will accomplish none of the stated goals of the program.Tell me again how this can possibly do society any good? No, you can't use the "guns are evil and one less gun is good" argument. The only "evil" guns that are going away are destroyed evidence, thus amplifying the evil. The other options are either punishing the operators of the silly charade, or preying on the ignorant.This is a case where you need to think with your brain and not your pent up emotions about guns. Think. You have a mind. Use it.