Image courtesy Dean Weingarten, small portion of guns turned in, Phoenix, May, 2013
In San Antonio, Texas, at the Alamodome parking lot, a gun "buyback" is planned from noon to 5 p.m. "Buyback" is an Orwellian term designed to give the impression all guns come from the government. You can not "buy back" what you never owned. A more correct term would be gun turn-in, because the guns are turned in to the police to be destroyed. A flurry of the gun turn-in/"buyback" events have been scheduled recently for Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio in Texas, and for three cities in New Mexico. Much of the money for these events come from the dollars created by the Biden administration. $100,000 of the funds for the San Antonio event are "rollover funds", funds which were not spent in the last budget. The event in San Antonio is planned to be "semi-anonymous". From ksat.com:
SAN ANTONIO
– A North Side councilman hopes to make a dent in San Antonio’s gun violence through a “voluntary weapons exchange,” where people can trade their guns for H.E.B. gift cards with “no questions asked.”Councilman John Courage is organizing the Nov. 19 event through his District 9 council office, using funds from his district budget and donations.
People can bring as many as 20 unloaded weapons to the Alamodome parking lot that Sunday afternoon and, depending on the condition and type of firearm, receive between $50 and $300 worth of gift cards per weapon.
“Just drive in,” Courage said. “No one’s going to ask your name. No one’s going to ask where you got the weapon. No one’s going to ask where you live. Simple as that.”
The event is semi-anonymous because police will first check to see if the firearm was stolen. If it was stolen, it will be returned to the legitimate owner. The person turning the gun in will be questioned. If not stolen, the police will determine what catagory the firearm belongs in, and will issue appropriate gift cards. Few guns at these events are listed as stolen.
Gift cards will vary from $50 to $300 on the following scale. From Ken5.com:
- Non-functioning/Home-manufactured: $50
- Rifle/Shotgun: $150
- Handgun: $200
- Semi-automatic rifle: $300
So far, $126,000 dollars have been pledged to the event. This correspondent expects police overtime would be paid out of that money. Say 12 officers at 6 hours each, at $100 per hour. Printing 2,600 T-shirts cost about $10,000. Add another $10,000 for "non-profit" "overhead" expenses. It still leaves $100,000 for gift cards. Assume the average gift card for a gun is $150, or about 670 guns. I expect that many to be turned in within about 3-4 hours. The Houston event last year purchased 850 guns in 4 hours. The event will likely run out of gift cards. When they do, this correspondent predicts there will be numerous people in line wanting to get rid of the old .22 rifle, shotgun, military surplus bolt gun or pistol they inherited. Many good deals may turn up for $100.
San Antonio Councilman Courage says, if they prevent one death, it will be worth it. The latest, greatest study on the events show it may cause more than one death. The officers doing the overtime, the T-shirt provider, and the non-profits all have money transferred to them, so they will do just fine.
Councilman Courage acknowledges the crime rate will not be lowered. Ann Helmke, the city's "faith liaison" admits the major purpose of the event is propaganda. She calls it education. From sanantonioreport.com:
The gun exchange and memorial will serve to educate the community while making a statement, said Rev. Ann Helmke, the city’s faith liaison.
“In its basic sense, it’s a protest,” Helmke said. “The memorial is so that the community can see the magnitude of the impact.”
In Texas, private purchases are legal and are not infringed by government requirements. Private buyers who show up at these events send their own message. The message from private buyers is: Guns are Valuable. We pay cash. The message from private buyers neutralizes the Guns are Bad, Turn them in message.
This is the reason gun turn in events are rare in most states. In most states the Second Amendment ability to buy guns, privately, for cash, has not been infringed on. Texas is in the majority with most states. Most gun turn in events happen in states where private purchases are outlawed.
If readers attend the San Antonio event, take lots of pictures, so AmmoLand readers can see what was turned in and what was purchased by private buyers.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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