Gun Turn In 'Buy Back': Homemade Shotguns for Cash

In an unnamed gun 'buy back' that is reported to have occurred in June of 2014, These four homemade slam fire shotguns were turned in for cash.  The piece of pipe that acts as a barrel slides in the front.   It is much like the slam fire shotguns that were developed and used in guerrilla fighting in the Philippines in WWII.  From countercurrentnews.com:

The self-described “gun rights activist,” who we are not naming, brought in a duffel bag full of home made, “slam-fire” shotguns (all of legal length). He was paid $50 for each of these improvised guns. This low ball price shows just how unrealistic it is for anyone but criminals to turn guns in to the police when they have these buy back programs.

Maybe an alert reader can ID the gun turn in where this occurred.   There was a turn in event in New York in June of 2014, but I do not know if that is the same as this one.  Still, $200 for a couple of hours of work and $30 worth of pipe is a worthwhile project.

Across the country, communities, police departments and churches are sponsoring gun turn-ins to get "guns off the street". At many of these events, private buyers are showing up, offering cash for the more valuable guns. These private additions to the public turn-in are effective, no doubt, in getting more guns off the street, because they add to the resources that are available to those who want to get rid of guns for something of value, be it a grocery card or a number of twenty dollar bills.

You can help make the turn-in in your area more effective by standing on the curb with your "Cash for Guns" sign, or at a folding table, willing to offer more than the gift card for firearms that are more valuable. It would be best if numerous private parties were available, as more good guns could then be transferred into responsible hands.

This action serves many useful purposes. It stretches the turn-in budget so that more guns can be taken off the street. It helps keep fearful widows from being defrauded of most of the market value of the gun they are turning in. It prevents valuable assets from being destroyed by bureaucratic inflexibility. It is a win-win-win situation. The ideal situation for those organizing the turn in would be to allow private buyers to purchase the valuable guns, while having the organizers take the cheap guns "off the streets". As these events are ideologically driven, that seems unlikely, but it might be worth an attempt at outreach. All parties would benefit.

Private buyers dispel the pernicious message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.

Link to potential legal risk of buying a gun at one of these events

Link to article with numerous examples of private sales at gun turn in events

Link to an article about private buyers at Detroit event

Link to Phoenix Article: pictures of private buyers


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Update: an alert reader on Freerepublic informed us that the turn in 'buy back' happened in Fredericksburg VA.  They included a link to fredericksburg.today.