The Business of Guns

are older guns with limited functionality that likely would not be purchased by a criminal in the first place. What’s more, criminals who do use firearms have little reason to give them up, even for money: the value of their gun is far greater than its cash value when it is used to carry out a crime, protect them during illegal activities, or simply enhance their status in a gang or criminal organization. Furthermore, the ease of obtaining a replacement gun means that the guns that are turned in will not do much to decrease the overall availability of illegal guns, while the high number of overall firearms in the United States makes it virtually impossible to point to any individual gun being taken off the street as an indicator that its absence will lower the crime rate. Multiple researchers have looked at American buyback programs and have concluded that the initiatives have failed to reduce overall gun violence and gun crime. Furthermore,

See how New Zealand’s buyback program is working after the country banned semiautomatic weapons and magazines.

The Business of Guns

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