Supporters of a “gun buyback” held over the weekend in Federal Way, Wash., were touting their success after spending $25,000 from the city police department’s budget to bring in guns for gift cards, and local media gave the event publicity.
However, there is just one small problem nobody addressed. According to some experts, such events are wastes of time and money.
According to a report last August from PewTrusts.org, Keith Taylor, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, doesn’t think much of buybacks.
“It’s a waste of resources if the entities that are sponsoring believe that it’s going to have a positive effect on reducing crime,” Taylor said. “But if the purpose is to provide a means for individuals to get rid of weapons from their households that they don’t want to have anymore, it absolutely is a good option.”
Federal Way is a suburban community between Seattle and Tacoma, on the extreme south end of King County.
News footage from KIRO Eyewitness News—the CBS affiliate in Seattle—showed several firearms, including handguns, various sporting rifles and at least one AK-type rifle.
A gun buyback in Guilderland, N.Y. netted 117 firearms, according to the Altamont Enterprise. Dustin Reidy, a county lawmaker who headed the effort, said the take was “far, far beyond expectations.”
An event in Richmond, Va., the first in that city’s history according to the Pew Trusts report, brought in 474 firearms, all traded for gift certificates.
But the question remains: Do such events really accomplish anything when it comes to reducing violent crime? According to an April 2022 report from CNN, probably not. Citing a study from 2021, CNN “looked at the National Incident Based Reporting System and the National Vital Statistics System in a search for evidence of the efficacy of gun buyback programs.
“The study found ‘no evidence’ that the programs reduce gun suicides or homicides,” CNN said at the time. “The ‘results suggest that (gun buyback programs) have been an inefficient use of taxpayers’ dollars,’ and it’s possible that ‘alternative firearm-related policies, such as safe storage laws or stricter background checks, would be more effective at deterring gun violence.’”
Some people turning in guns at the Federal Way event told a reporter their surrendered firearms had been owned by people who had passed away several years ago.
Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell told KIRO he thinks the buyback will make a difference, not only in preventing guns from winding up in crimes, but also being involved in tragedies involving youngsters.
Interestingly, he said some of the guns “could be repurposed” by the police department. Each gun will be fired and the recovered bullet will be entered into a database to find out whether it was ever used in a crime.
