Zerg539 sent me another great story via Twitter. The Seattle Police Department decided to setup its first gun “buyback” in 20 years. I put the phrase buyback in quotation marks because the name is an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak. Buying something back implies you originally owned it but, with the exception of some police surplus guns, the Seattle Police Department never owned the firearms they’re trying to buy. Therefore calling it a gun buyback is incorrect, it’s really a gun acquisition. Thankfully local gun owners decided two could play at that game:
Police officers in Seattle, Washington held their first gun buyback program in 20 years this weekend, underneath interstate 5, and soon found that private gun collectors were working the large crowd as little makeshift gun shows began dotting the parking lot and sidewalks. Some even had “cash for guns” signs prominently displayed.
Police stood in awe as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line for the buyback program.
People that had arrived to trade in their weapons for $100 or $200 BuyBack gift cards($100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault weapons) soon realized that gun collectors were there and paying top dollar for collectible firearms. So, as the line for the chump cards got longer and longer people began to jump ship and head over to the dealers.
This is the appropriate response to gun buyback programs. State operated gun “buyback” programs are an exercise in using tax money to purchase firearms from unsuspecting individuals (the programs primarily target criminals who want to dispose of crime guns, since the police outright state that no attempt to trace the firearms will be made and that the firearms are destroyed, and those who inherited firearms and are ignorant of their true value). The best way to demonstrate the state’s attempt to rip off gun owners is to offer a better price for firearms. If the state says they’ll give $200 for “assault rifles” you need only offer a little more than $200, unless the rifle is scrap metal, in which case you let the state buy it. I’m glad to see the act of gun owners swarming state “buybacks” continues to increase in popularity.