A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found gun buybacks are “ineffective at deterring gun crime.”
Researchers offered several reasons that gun buybacks could fail to reduce gun violence, including:
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- The gift cards aren’t priced high enough to incentivize donations
- Most participants come from low-crime areas
- The firearms exchanged “tend to be older and less well-functioning than the average firearm.”
[The Hampton Roads Black Caucus’ Joel] Jones admits gun buyback programs aren’t the ultimate answer to curbing gun violence, but he said events like Saturday’s will provide the chance to properly and safely dispose of unwanted firearms.
“Regardless of what the statistics say, we want to put some attention and show that we care enough and make time to do the program,” Jones said.
— Dan Kennedy in How effective are gun buybacks?
