Headline: Man makes $21,000 selling 3D-printed guns during NY AG gun buyback program
Fox News reported recently that a New York man says he was paid $21,000 at a so-called gun "buyback" program by 3D printing over 100 lower receivers and turning them over to police.
From the article:
"I 3D-printed a bunch of lower receivers and frames for different kinds of firearms," the man, who would only identify himself as "Kem," told WKTV last week.
Kem says he printed the gun parts on a $200 3D printer he received as a gift for Christmas and then made the 6-hour drive to Utica, New York, where the Utica Police Department was hosting a gun buyback program for the New York State Attorney General's Office.
"And he sees the tote and says, 'how many firearms do you have?' And I said, '110,'" Kem reacalls.[sic]
From there, Kem said he spent the rest of the day negotiating with the Attorney General's staff over how much the payment for the 3D-printed parts would be.
"And it ended with the guy and a lady from the budget office finally coming around with the 42 gift cards and counting them in front of me," Kem said. "$21,000 in $500 gift cards."
Second Amendment activists have long argued that these so-called "buyback" programs (the government can't "buy back" something they never owned to begin with) are a waste of taxpayer money, and Kem has certainly demonstrated one of the reasons why in Utica.
Indeed, that was his intention all along. Again, from the article:
Kem laughed off claims by the Attorney General's Office that the Utica gun buyback program was a large success, arguing such programs do nothing to reduce crime.
"I'm sure handing over $21,000 in gift cards to some punk kid after getting a bunch of plastic junk was a rousing success," Kem said. "Gun buybacks are a fantastic way of showing, number one, that your policies don't work, and, number 2, you're creating perverse demand. You're causing people to show up to these events, and, they don't actually reduce crime whatsoever."
According to Fox News, the New York Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told WKTV last week that it is "shameful that this individual exploited a program that has successfully taken thousands of guns off the streets to protect our communities from gun violence."
The NY AG provided no evidence to back up claims that this expenditure of taxpayer funds has protected communities from gun violence, of course, and that's because they have no evidence.
Indeed, according to information compiled in the Gun Facts download available here:
- The federal government has found gun ‘buy-backs’ have “no effect.”
- “Buy-backs” remove no more than 2% of the firearms within a community. And the firearms that are removed do not resemble guns used in crimes. “There has never been any effect on crime results seen”.
- Up to 62% of people trading in a firearm still have another at home, and 27% said they would or might buy another within a year.
- More than 50% of the weapons bought via a gun buy back program were over 15 years old, whereas almost half of firearms seized from juveniles are less than three years old.
- 81% of police surveyed believe buy-backs are ineffective in reducing gun violence.
The City of Toledo recently held it's own such event, and I am personally aware of several people who took advantage of the opportunity to trade near-worthless, non-working, junk firearms for $200 gift cards. One such person purchased a brand new AR-15 with the proceeds he received from the Toledo "buyback."
It is a travesty that the City of Toledo continues to waste taxpayer monies on ineffective, "feel-good" gun control policies instead of focusing on actually prosecuting and preventing crime.
Chad D. Baus served as Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary from 2013-2019, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
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