Media outlets in Houston are reporting that the most recent gun “buyback” event was a success, but a good chunk of the $100,000 the city spent went to people who showed up with cheap 3D printed guns people made to turn a profit at the event. TTAG had a laugh at the taxpayer’s expense HERE. So, the city is changing their policy for the next event.
“We did get some ghost guns where people may have 3D printed or made these guns specifically for the gun buyback program,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told the local ABC13 station. “We will eliminate that portion.”
Pro-gun accounts on social media are having a lot of fun with the news.
Glocktopus Reviews on Instagram had a funny take on news footage that you can find here, while others pointed out that the guy who dropped off over 60 “ghost guns” probably profited over $9,000 on the sale (other say the haul was only around $3,000, but the point still stands), allowing him to buy some decent guns:
Someone turned in 62 3D printed "ghost guns" for $150/ea at a recent Houston "gun buy back" event 🇺🇸
This is the way 🇺🇸
$9300 will get you a lot of nice real guns 😎 pic.twitter.com/Ki00OsGRJM
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) July 31, 2022
The Firearms Policy Coalition simply said, “LOL” and “LMAO”, while their fans had some nice reaction GIFs, like this one:
Ladies and gentlemen… pic.twitter.com/WUXflnStmT
— Liberty Lyss (@liberty_lyss) August 3, 2022
The Harris County Prosecutor Doesn’t Understand “Buybacks”
While I’ll always mock these events for calling themselves “buybacks” because nobody buys guns from the cities that host them (and thus, they cannot buy them back), the county’s prosecutor showed that she doesn’t understand even the stated purpose behind such events.
District Attorney Kim Ogg sent the City of Houston a letter the day before the event, telling law enforcement that the “no questions asked” policy could hurt potential criminal cases if any of the guns were lost, stolen, or had been used in a crime.
“The intentions were good, but the program needs to be refined,” First Assistant District Attorney David Mitcham told ABC13. “The no questions asked aspect of the program undermines the prosecution of crime.”
This is basically the whole purpose of a “buyback” event, though. If criminals are afraid to get rid of a gun because it was used in a crime, the theory is that getting the gun “off the streets” could help reduce gun crime done by actual criminals. Nobody has ever thought that crime guns wouldn’t end up in these programs.
If the events were to stop having a “no questions asked” policy, they’d prove that the events are more about disarming civilians and virtue signaling, or possibly spreading anti-gun propaganda (“guns bad”) than reducing gun crime in cities.
But, the truth is that studies show such events don’t do anything for crime, so it’s really just a waste of local taxpayer money.
