If there’s any better way to start a new week than bathing in anti-gunners’ tears, we’re not exactly sure what that would be. So aside from watching the Cowboys utterly dismantle the Eagles last night and listening to the once-likeable Patrick Mahomes whine like a snotty little bitch girl about an official calling a clear infraction at an inopportune time for him, it’s hard to overstate the level of our satisfaction when we read a New York Times jernalizmist’s breathless report that — zut alors! — not all of the busted-up guns that are collected in gun “buybacks” around the country are actually melted down and beaten into plowshares.
We can only imagine how thoroughly disillusioned The Times’ Mike McIntire must have been when he did a little digging into the companies that actually dispose of the guns that are taken in. See, no matter what the politicians and police chiefs may say when they advertise these utterly useless political photo ops, the great majority of the guns they collect aren’t destroyed. At least, not completely.
There’s actually a small economy of companies scattered around the country that take the guns off of the police departments’ hands after the buybacks and destroy “the firearms.” And by “firearms,” we mean the ATF-approved legalistic definition of such.
You and I may know that only means the serialized frame or receiver, but the average public official — and that includes the police chiefs who make appearances at “buybacks” for interviews and stand-ups for local TV — is too pig-ignorant to know that.
The Times’ report centers on one particular company, GunBusters of Chesterfield, Missouri. We’ve been writing about them pretty much since they came into being when a retired St. Louis cop had a bright idea for a new venture.
GunBusters and other companies like it take guns off the hands of the entities that run the buybacks and destroy them. For free.
But as you’ll notice in the GunBusters video above (which the company has since taken down after we published it here), they don’t destroy the entire gun…lock, stock and barrel, so to speak. Instead, they strip it for parts, then destroy the frame. If a police department or city really wants to ensure that the guns are destroyed completely, GunBusters will do that, too. But they’ll charge them for the service.
That’s because the biggest revenue-generating portion of GunBusters’ business is selling the unserialized parts. Kinda like this . . .
If you have yourself a Beretta 96D in .40 S&W that needs some TLC, Gunbusters is a good place to look for parts.
As you might expect, this reality has come as something of a shock to those with delicate sensibilities. People like The Times staff and their sheltered readers.
Gun auction websites have thousands of listings for parts kits, and even complete firearms, offered by firms that contract with law enforcement agencies to handle disposals. Gunbusters and its five licensees across the country, for example, recently averaged more than $90,000 a week in combined online sales of hundreds of disassembled guns from government clients.
This little-known but profitable corner of the firearms economy exists because the approved method of destroying a gun contains a loophole that has been exploited.
OH MY GOD! The Times has uncovered another dreaded loophole in firearm regulation in this country. This alleged loophole, of course, is the fact that only a portion of any firearm is regulated and legally considered a gun under the law. The rest of it is just parts.
To be able to say a gun is destroyed, disposal companies crush or cut up a single piece that federal law classifies as a firearm: the receiver or frame that anchors the other components and contains the required serial number. The businesses can then sell the remaining parts as a kit: barrel, trigger, grip, slide, stock, springs — essentially the entire gun, minus the regulated piece.
If we wore pearls, we’d be clutching them at this very moment. Tightly.
Police agencies and disposal companies say they are following guidelines set by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While the guidelines, posted on the A.T.F. website, show illustrations of whole guns being cut into pieces with an acetylene torch, they also say that an “acceptable method” is to destroy just the receiver or frame.
McIntire eventually raises the haunting specter of — you guessed it — ghost guns.
But while the parts kits have legitimate uses, they could also further the spread of so-called ghost guns when paired with an untraceable receiver or frame, said Nicholas Suplina, a senior lawyer with Everytown for Gun Safety. The number of do-it-yourself ghost guns turning up in violent crimes has surged, made possible by unfinished components — prefabricated metal pieces that need welding and drilling — that are not serialized, and often do not require a background check when purchased separately.
In the end, none of this is really news. Well, unless you live on the upper west side and foolishly depend on the New York Times to find out what’s going on in the world.
These companies are providing legal services to cities and government entities around the country, disposing of guns they’ve “taken off the streets,” and doing it according to ATF guidelines. Nothing underhanded, nothing untoward.
The Times doesn’t like that because not only are the guns that are collected incompletely destroyed, but someone is actually profiting from our Byzantine gun control laws…by identifying a niche and complying with the laws just as they’re written.
As for the shock and alarm expressed by Mr. McIntire and the Everytown mouthpiece he interviewed, not to mention the ignorance of all of the public officials who are involved in the process all along the line, that’s just too damned bad.
REEEE! Legal thing is legal. REEEE!
Why are they called buybacks anyway, with the exception of a couple of milsurps, none of my guns belonged to a government entity so they can’t buy them *back*.
They should be called gun disposal under-compensation programs.
Or maybe called buy-ups.
As I have said previously these people are stupid on purpose. They go out of their way to not learn the facts about a subject. They say they’re “an expert” on. Or they claim they “have knowledge” about the subject.
Only the facts we tell you are relevant, don’t practice science on your own trust the experts, etc etc. Why people assume the news is any different about topics the individual doesn’t know about always confused me.
That one blows my mind as well. I have a friend who works in health care and he is often bemoaning how inaccurate reporting on related topics is. I’ve asked him more than once if he thinks reporting on politics, economics, law and order, etc. is any better and he can’t seem to connect the dots. He often responds along the lines of, “Well, surely the media understands those topics.” Sigh, none are so blind as those who will not see.
On every subject I have some specialized knowledge about the “media” gets everything wrong whenever they report anything about it. I don’t by any means know everything since there are some subjects that I know very little about but if I extrapolate from the things that I do know and them getting nearly everything wrong with all of them I have to conclude they get major stuff wrong with practically everything they report on.
The college “educated” “Journalist” didn’t decide on that as a major/job because of his/her level of intelligence. Most of the “journalists” are actually TV talkers. Hire for their (once) pretty appearance. If you doubt this watch the network political shows on Sunday morning.
“Why people assume the news is any different about topics the individual doesn’t know about always confused me.”
Because. Since the mid-twentyth century, the public believes the purpose of news sources is to be accurate and unbiased. People who believe such have done no time looking into the history of “the press”, going back to as long as there has been “the press”.
“The Press” has always had an agenda on everything. And has not been shy about being unruly and misleading. Believe half of what you hear, and none of what you see.
Rule of Acquisition #190: Hear all, trust nothing.
The way I heard that saying was: “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”
They are experts at twisting the truth.
I have learned over the years that so called “experts” are usually the least educated on the topic they claim to know. I avoid anyone that calls themself an “expert.”
I am expert in bullshit from Crete, and one thing I am sure of is that all Cretans are always liars.
I know everything.
I wonder if there is any “KIKCKBACK” paid to the government entity that conducted the “buyback” for the firearms they “part out”? Or to an official of the govt. organization.
While a significant portion of Gunbroker is overpriced stuff with shipping charges thrown on top, good deals can be had if persistent enough. For example my brand new YHM R9 suppressor was won on GB for $250. MSRP on them is like around $400. Needless to say, enjoyed this article and now have a new GB seller with inventory to check on regularly. Already put in a few bids on 1911 kits along with the Lego kits, that is the Glock.
Be clear … are you talking about Gun BROKER the consignment dealer? OR Gun BUSTER that was the focus of this article?
“enjoyed this article and now have a new GB seller with inventory to check on regularly.”
He is now aware of a new-to-him seller on the GunBroker site.
As a gunsmith I love companies like “gunbusters”. It makes it really affordable to rebuild / repair firearms or change calibers on an existing model. You never know what old & odd items come up for sale. Sometimes you get sad when you see nice C&R Lugers, High Powers, Nambus or Colt SAA’s that were destroyed though.
Milsurp collectors, and 3D printer guys; “Well, duh!”
A significant amount of the parts at Numerich and Sarco have come from the popo for decades.
Watch out for the next ATF rule making comment period…
Thinking the same. Someone at atf literally just said oh shit a loophole we need a new rule
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take THAT, com-symp lib wimps!
Poor Gun Grabbers…Firearms are like Doritos, they’ll just make more.
Yes, I’m shocked. What they are saying is, gun disposal is much like the junkyards littering our country? You haul, or tow your junk car in, they weigh it, you get so much per hundred pounds, and you think the car is GONE!! (Yeah, it does work like that in some junkyards, the entire vehicle goes into a shredder, and it’s pretty gone-gone.) Once the car is theirs, they can salvage whatever the hell they need, or want, or think they can make a profit on. The bits with the VIN on them will almost certainly be destroyed, but everything else is fair game.
Shocked, I tell you! Scrap metal is scrap metal, unless it ain’t really scrap!
hate obama just for the cash for clunker thing.
killed alot of 4.2/ 4.0ls.
“hate obama just for the cash for clunker thing.”
It just killed the motors (well, the ones they *claimed* they destroyed). There wasn’t a damn thing they could do about those that bought those vehicles with frozen motors from yanking them and putting a used engine in there.
My dad happily took Obama’s money for his 5.0 Ford SUV and bought a brand-new Chevy Equinox with the free money as a down payment.
(The Chevy was OK, not great, he put 120,000 miles on it, and traded it in on a 2018 Honda CR-V. He *loves* that Honda, no surprise, I sure loved my 89 Honda Si, my first new (and only new) car, to date)…
bless.
those straight sixes took two cans to kill.
what a fucking jagoff.
there is an oufit alng the West Coast that a steel scrp processing comoany set up a couple dacades back. they buy your unwanted car, then line them up, on tands, whee;s/tyres/perol tank and AC system removed (per state laws, “done right”. then they put them out in tyeir dirtlot y rows. They keep track of what is where by VIN, and will tell you where all the 2012 Whatzis are by row and spot umber. You take your tool, remove whatever you need, they have set prices for each type of component. I’ve restored quite a few wrecks and derelicts with super cheap bits. Ten, once that row has been out there for ninety days they pick each one up, drop two or three high into the crusher, squish them down, pue them eight or so high on a bit trailer and off they go to the grinder at the port, where all the chunks drop into the bulk hold and head off to China. They’llbe back in six months or so as toasters, freezers, tie rod ends, etc. These comoanies are end-to-end, starting with the hulk car then on to sometimese ven smelting the matal here. The only rub is, to dispose of a car you MUST have the title matching the VIN on that car, and the wreck has to be mostly complete. You c can’t keep the engine or side doors.
This requirement alone is what drives hulks getting dumped at the side of the road in the middle of the night.
Same business model ecept that because BATF have the stict rules about selling the serilaised parts, you can’t break them up and sll them on eBay….. So I suspect a lot of these end up underneath some considerable body of water……. where the seawater will eventually return them to atoms and ions once more.
Got the exact same thing here in Florida, Copher’s wrecking yard. Exact same deal with how they line them up and everything…
gunbusters has removed everything from their website and all it says now is “Coming Soon.” Maybe a response to the article in The Times?
Very similar to explaining to the mindless earthy-crunchy crowd the realities of recycling as a for profit venture that it only works as long as there’s a profit to be made.
Their response to this reality is that taxpayers should fund recycling at a loss. Dare point out that is corporate welfare and they call you a science denying Nazi and walk away.
Reality just does not register with certain people.
If it exists, whatever it is, somebody is profiting off it. Even in socialist utopias this holds true.
saved a mossy from the st. ita turn in. they were handing out hondo gift cards, i offered two. cash, handshake.
” i offered two. cash, handshake.”
You truly did the Lord’s work…
*Snicker*. 😉
not even for me, a friend has wanted a shotty, he doesn’t appreciate the lack of 4473. good pals are worth it. it’s a point i will drive home.
Call it a recycling program. You get paid for the item in a buyback. Where it goes after isn’t your business anymore, nor is it the business of some idiot at the Times. Personally, I buy parts kits to build collectible weapons of times long past. The submachine guns from WWII are awesome to rebuild into legal semiauto for display and for collectors who can’t afford the costs of real machine guns.
ALL such firearms should be auctioned off to dealers and authorized individuals instead of being destroyed. The funds spent by govts. would NOT be refundable from the federal or state purse(s) as the cities independently decide to conduct such “buybacks”. US taxpayers should NOT be funding such sham programs screwing our constitutional rights.
“ALL such firearms should be auctioned off to dealers and authorized individuals instead of being destroyed.”
Damn straight. They *claim* all they want are guns sold with a background check, that happens when wholesale sold to the dealers, before re-sold to the public…
When it comes to “experts”, the government if loaded with them. I personally know the former Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) during the Clinton administration. He acts like he knows everything there is to know about every form of transportation, but in all actuality, he knows very little. He talks in circles and people buy it.
The news media still gets him on their broadcasts for an “expert” opinion when there’s a transportation incident.
Lmfao 🤣 the “gun” isn’t the whole thing dummies and capitalism is running high in free America 🇺🇸
“Oh noes” said the gun control industry “Another loophole! Quick, get our paid congress people to introduce a bill before an assault spring commits a mass-springing. The stats show a 100% increase in assault-springs in the hands of people from previous years since we found out about this last week.”
The Arrow Gun.
we have launched arrows from wrist rockets since pre teen. torn sheet, rubber band, a little pepto… flaming goodness!
Prior to the invention of guns, the world was just a sunny spot in well-kept, non- violent English garden. But guns, even the rusty old guns in your closet, emanate tendrils of evil that taint everything. As the decay progresses, people will begin lynching and enslaving each other, burning old women at the stake, even crucifying the innocent. We must destroy all the guns and that nasty old Bill of Rights before the world becomes a horrible place where only the strongest and meanest survive.
It’s, like, an emergency, man. Hell, people will eventually be clubbing each other over the head with sharp rocks and sticks in a state of chaotic anarchy if we don’t act immediately to destroy all guns. And that nasty old Bill of Rights that the NRA invented, too!!! Act now!
Donations accepted, $50 minimum. No returns.
/s
praise bob.
Well they dont call Missouri the Show Me state for nothing.
Also I dont think its wise to trash talk the KC Chefs if your in Missouri.
The officiating was bad.
Mahomes had a right to be pissed.
Player being paid millions of dollars for a few weeks’ work per year should know his job forwards & backwards or get fired. Player was careless or an idiot. It was a good call according to the video.
I would speculate that most LE agencies that are legally restricted from selling confiscated/post conviction guns would also use facilities similar to gunbusters. The “crime guns” may well have ballistics and cartridge case data in the system(s). It’s the slide and barrel that impart the firearms “fingerprints” on the cartridge cases and barrel on the projectile. There’s a possibility that your receiver with a recycled crime gun kit now links your gun to other crimes/cold case that didn’t get scrutiny before. Buyer beware! Your receipts and a $500 an hour lawyer may untangle it in a few months. Lol
Back in the 1950s, when I was attending Columbia College in NYC, the Columbia School of Journalism was looked down upon as the “short bus” of the University. Nothing has changed since then.
Why aren’t “gun buybacks” considered a malfeasance of office for waste ~~ and CHARGED for such?
It takes taxpayers dollars to buy guns that aren’t worth the money paid and destroys them ~ direct wasted money. OR buys guns of real value or collectable and destroys them and loses the value it has … STILL a waste.
EITHER way, it is using taxpayer dollars to throw down a rathole that the taxpayer LOSES his money on.
Years ago, Seattle attempted a “Gun Buyback” and advertised the event. About a block away from the parking lot a guy had a sign in the back of his truck offering real cash for nice guns. This was before all the background check nonsense. He was buying nice rifles and pistols for about $100.00. Police attempted to shut him down, but he wasn’t doing anything illegal at the time.
a group of us here have trolled gun buy backs before, offering cash for guns before they got to the tables set up for the buy back and sometimes going down the line of people waiting in line. The anti-gunners get really upset, tried before to have us removed and cops said “nope”.
My favorite one was the time one of the anti-gunners got so upset and worked up and animated at us they had an actual heart attack. Its not my favorite because they had a heart attack and it was a bad thing – it was my favorite because it basically shut down the gun buy back. We did send the person some flowers though in the hospital, they came out of it OK with a few stints.
Funny how the usual suspects are quiet as church mice in the dead of winter.
@Gordon
“The way I heard that saying was: “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.” ”
Wisdom from the ages.