THE Gun Thread

[Rev. Rye]

I don’t think the ‘I could get more money selling it elsewhere’ argument applies to gun buybacks. People seem to take advantage of these programmes to dispose of unwanted or broken guns in a safe manner (as opposed to just tossing them in the tip). 

While it’s perfectly true that gun enthusiasts could resell the guns for more or refurbish them, that isn’t the motivation (if it were, no one would participate in the buybacks). While it’s also true - I assume -that people could simply hand these guns over to the cops for free, the gift cards are an incentive.

Boru

They actually couldn't get more money elsewhere, in mere reality, at least not legally.  

People who want guns tend to have them, and gun ownership in the us is condensed into what are termed super users - such as myself.  If you're highly motivated to sell a cheap ass pistol to a superuser...you're going to have a bit of trouble finding one that wants to buy it.  That's why they sell them to criminals..instead.  Because they can get more for them, from the criminal, than they can from the super user who has a closet full of guns and can easily acquire more (and better) firearms.  

Which is actually a pretty good point. That said, from what I understand, at least with some guns, you can just gift them (even across state lines), but once money changes hands, it becomes illegal. Of course, with some guns, you'd need to have an FFL license. At least, that's what I've been able to glean from the Chandler Halderson case.



Apparently, Chandler got the murder weapon (an SKS rifle with 500 rounds of ammo) from this guy, who traveled all the way to Wisconsin to gift this guy he knew online a gun, and, from what I've been able to figure out, the gift was 100% legal.