For $10,000,000 (after taxes) each!
Buyback programs do not work. This has been proven time and again. Criminals do not take their guns to a buy back. The crime rates in areas that have buyback programs do not change at all.
The latest buyback program in Los Angeles was touted as a great success. How did they measure this success? They counted 1,500 guns turned in (the city population is about 3,800,000) so it was a success.
Let's see if this is true or not:
- If the statistic of 60% of Americans owning guns is correct, this means that there are 2,280,000 gun owners in the City of Los Angeles. Assuming that only one gun is owned by each person, that means that 0.066% (that is ZERO point ZERO SIX SIX Percent) of the guns in Los Angeles were turned in. So now there are only 2,278,500 guns in Los Angeles. This is such a small change as to be insignificant.
- Crime rates have never gone down after any gun buy back in Los Angeles; ever! This is the only true measure of a buyback program as this is the stated goal of these programs. Since the announcement of a success was the very next day, it was impossible to verify ANY change in the crime rate to verify success. So, this is simply a “feel good” program that accomplishes nothing.
Overall, these programs are a complete waste of taxpayer money!