A collection of popular, dirt cheap, barely functional 3D printed guns were turned into a Houston gun buyback over the weekend. Reports differ on what was offered for each gun, but between $50-150 was offered, depending on whether the agency running the event deemed them “functional” or not.
Whatever the price tag per unit, the manufacturer with a box of extruded filament and balls of solid brass, walked away with thousands of dollars of Houston police budget, and likely an impressive sense of satisfaction. Rarely has anyone so thoroughly warped the intention of pointless anti-gun showmanship as this man.
We all have probably heard of people doing this to some extent in the past. A decade ago, a group put the word out for broken, non-functional guns, and even BB guns nobody in their community wanted, drove to Chicago, and exchanged them for cash at the “Don’t Kill A Dream, Save A Life” event. What made that story extra spicy was that the funds extracted from Chicago PD were then turned around to buy new, functional guns for an NRA shooting camp for children.
Whether it’s BB guns or barely functional plastic “guns”, this seems to be a theme that’s catching on, likely to the chagrin of those organizing such clown shows. This of course, is really just the consequences of the poorly thought out and executed concept that is the “buyback”. Even the name doesn’t make sense, as you can’t buy “back” something you never owned in the first place. If you have the means to take advantage of this “loophole” you might want to get moving on that before regulators and police agencies catch on and close up this “loophole”, though how they’ll manage that without acknowledging that how the ATF classifies guns… we can’t imagine.
