Surprise, Gun Buyback Programs Don't Work

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As we laid out in a 2009 editorial, there’s no evidence that they do. In fact, a 2004 National Research Council report concluded that they’re ineffective. In part, that’s because only a comparatively tiny number of guns are handed in — perhaps a couple of thousand in a city that harbors millions of firearms . . .


Typically, the participants in gun buyback programs show up with old, unused and possibly broken firearms that they’d like to be rid of but that have little resale value. Some of them are collectors who will take the city’s grocery money and use the savings to buy a newer, better weapon. These aren’t the kinds of guns that were going to be used in a drive-by shooting.


As TTAG’s pointed out on many occasions, gun buybacks actually create a market for stolen guns (the size of which depends on the price offered). The “no questions asked” trade-in policy also eliminates the chances of clearing-up serious firearms-involved crimes.