Well Played: Man Uses $200 3D Printer To Earn $21,000 At New York Gun ‘Buyback’

A man named “Kem” reportedly used a 3D printer to manufacture “firearms” to turn in at a Utica, New York gun buyback. New York Attorney General Letitia James intended to buy “unwanted” guns and paid up to $250 each for the guns.

What AG James no doubt planned on was buying typical street blasters. Mr. Kem, however, printed and gave them 110 “unwanted” firearms. They gave him 42 $500 gift cards for a total of $21,000. That’s a good day’s work, if ATF doesn’t crack down on Mr. Kem for unlawful manufacture of firearms.

It’s not the first instance of a brave individual printing guns on their 3D printer and turning them in at a “buybacks.”  In Houston, the government changed the rules after one man nicked them $3,100. But this one, at $21,000, seems to set a new standard and a high bar to others to reach for.

As Kem told WKTV . . .

“I 3D-printed a bunch of lower receivers and frames for different kinds of firearms,” said Kem.

Then, he drove six hours to Utica.

“And he sees the tote and says, ‘how many firearms do you have?’ And I said, ‘110,’” said Kem.

That’s when the organizers of the “buyback” realized they hadn’t really thought the whole thing through.

This began a haggling and negotiating session with Attorney General’s Office staff that lasted all day long.

“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,” said Kem. “$21,000 in $500 gift cards.”

Amen, brother. A rousing success indeed. Yet strangely, the Attorney General’s office didn’t include the 3D “ghost guns” in the promotional photos of the day’s haul.

In the WKTV interview, Kem said that it “was the greatest thing that Letitia James could have done. She literally put a bounty on 3-D printed guns. She said, ‘I will give you extra money if it doesn’t have a serial number on it.'”

Preach it!

A man says he received $21,000 in gift cards by bringing more than 100 3D-printed guns to the Utica gun buyback event last month. https://t.co/rVZoNMxT2Q

— WKTV (@WKTV) September 27, 2022

Asked where he got the idea, he told the local media outlet he saw people on Twitter talking about using 3D printers to make big bucks by printing guns for buyback programs. 

Perhaps he was referring to the story of a man who recently turned in 62 3D-printed guns to Houston’s buyback program and collected $3,100.

Kem provided a master’s thesis on gaming the gun buyback scheme. Look for them to make changes in the rules for their future “successes.” Meanwhile, the New York AG was not amused.

“It’s shameful that this individual exploited a program that has successfully taken thousands of guns off the streets to protect our communities from gun violence. We have partnered with local police throughout the state to recover more than 3,500 guns, and one individual’s greedy behavior won’t tarnish our work to promote public safety. We have adjusted our policies to ensure that no one can exploit this program again for personal gain.”

At the Guns Save Life organization in Illinois, we’ve collected our fair share from Windy City taxpayers over the years. However, the best we ever did was about $6240 using real, albeit mostly non-functional junk “turned in” at a Murder City “buyback” in 2012.  The ensuing international publicity proved such a black eye for the City of Chicago that they ended the program for about three years. And then when they brought it back, they held it at just one or two locations.

Using creativity and their own “gun buyback” rules against them – Alinsky style – to gig them for $21,000 is truly epic trolling.

Well done, Kem. Well done.