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Texas Bill Would Put Local “Buybacks” Out of Business, Ending an Anti-gun Charade

Monday, June 2, 2025

Texas Bill Would Put Local “Buybacks” Out of Business, Ending an Anti-gun Charade

As Texas House Bill 3053 heads to Governor Abbott’s desk, it is serving as a broader reminder to all states of the gun “buybacks” scam, only this time with a legislative solution to this anti-gun mainstay. Time and again, decades of research and examples of diversion to criminals city by city continue to prove these initiatives to be futile, if not counterproductive. Yet anti-gun propagandists, and well-meaning dupes who get roped into supporting them, continue to find “buybacks” irresistible in most states. Texas took seriously a new approach to what is now an old problem by running legislation to ensure that municipalities and counties cannot adopt or enforce any ordinance or measure that facilitates a gun buyback program, i.e., that taxpayer resources are not expended on gun control cheerleading events that lack any real public safety value.

All government-sponsored gun “buybacks” in Anytown, U.S.A., have the same inherent flaws. First, nearly all of these programs are implemented at a county or city level using significant taxpayer monies.  These programs often offer cash, gift cards, or other incentives such as sporting event tickets for firearms under the guise of public safety.  On their face alone, these programs appear illogical as a method to reduce gun violence. The “buyback” itself is largely anonymous by design, often under a “no questions asked” format. While that may, in theory, give a criminal opportunity to easily rid himself of an illegal firearm with a reduced risk of prosecution, most of the firearms turned in are old and inoperable, not the sorts or firearms usable in crimes.

Yet neither option is poised to enhance public safety. In the first, the trigger puller remains at large, only without potentially incriminating evidence and slightly enriched on the taxpayers’ dime. In the second, the buyback organizers serve as glorified garbage collectors.

Additionally, in most cases, the offered prices are less than the potential sale price of a firearm in good operating condition. In other reported cases, people were receiving large sums of money for items that were not even firearms; recall that New York was forced to change their buyback rules after a participant exploited the system by using a 3D printer to make parts in bulk that he exchanged for over $21,000 in gift cards.

Again, the most rigorous studies over the course of decades now show no empirical evidence to support that these initiatives have any anti-crime benefit even after utilizing millions of dollars. In Harris County, Texas, the county alone provided over $1 million dollars in taxpayer money specifically for gun “buyback” programs. These programs continue to raise questions about the relative effectiveness of each intervention when these notable sums and resources could and should have been redirected in a more meaningful way for citizen safety.

The gun owning community finds these programs cringeworthy; as well, the term “buyback” falsely suggests that the government had ownership of these firearms in the first place. NRA, in working to protect Second Amendment rights in all 50 states and their municipalities, knows all too well the necessity of guardrails to check the misuse of local government authority, and this is what Texas is ultimately seeking to do.

Local efforts like gun “buybacks” can have an enduring effect on establishing an official anti-gun orthodoxy, while serving as a socially engineered distraction to the honest conversations needed on real safety measures. States should be focusing on efforts that provide solutions, not merely attention, and what happens next in Texas is worth watching for all states.

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Arkansas Atrocity Highlights Need for Reform in Rules Governing Carry in Public Parks

News  

Monday, August 25, 2025

Arkansas Atrocity Highlights Need for Reform in Rules Governing Carry in Public Parks

On the heels of the shocking and seemingly random murder of a couple in an Arkansas state park while they were walking a trail with their young children, many are revisiting their self-defense plans in the great ...

Everytown Gun “Safety” Course—Step One: Don’t Own a Gun

News  

Monday, August 25, 2025

Everytown Gun “Safety” Course—Step One: Don’t Own a Gun

Our friends at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) have reported that Everytown, an active and well-funded anti-gun organization, is now purporting to be branching out into teaching gun owners how to safely handle firearms.

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Today, the House rescheduled the veto override vote on Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to Monday, September 22. 

Florida Urges SCOTUS to Grant Cert in NRA’s Challenge to its Young Adult Purchase Ban and to Rule its Own Law Unconstitutional

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Florida Urges SCOTUS to Grant Cert in NRA’s Challenge to its Young Adult Purchase Ban and to Rule its Own Law Unconstitutional

In May, the National Rifle Association petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear NRA v. Glass, our challenge to Florida’s ban on firearm purchases by adults under 21.

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s “Assault-Style” Firearms Ban

Thursday, August 21, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s “Assault-Style” Firearms Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners’ Action League, Pioneer Valley Arms, three NRA members, and another individual filed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’s ban on “assault-style” firearms.

Tenth Circuit Holds New Mexico’s 7-Day Waiting Period Unconstitutional in NRA Case

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Tenth Circuit Holds New Mexico’s 7-Day Waiting Period Unconstitutional in NRA Case

Today, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period for firearm purchases unconstitutional in Ortega v. Grisham, a case brought by the National Rifle Association and Mountain States Legal Foundation, with the ...

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Friday, August 15, 2025

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Today, a Petition for Certiorari was filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Duncan v. Bonta, a case—backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle & Pistol Association—challenging California’s prohibition on magazines capable of holding ...

Chicago Woman Shot with Stolen Buyback Gun Files Suit

News  

Monday, August 11, 2025

Chicago Woman Shot with Stolen Buyback Gun Files Suit

NRA has often reported on failed “gun buyback” programs in cities across the country as being worse than useless. 

North Carolina: Pro-Gun Bills Advance in Veto Override Session

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

North Carolina: Pro-Gun Bills Advance in Veto Override Session

During a veto override session on Tuesday, July 29th, both chambers passed House Bill 193 (H193) and defeated Governor Josh Stein's veto.

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Florida’s Waiting Period Requirements for Firearm Purchases

Monday, August 25, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Florida’s Waiting Period Requirements for Firearm Purchases

Today, the National Rifle Association, 2nd Amendment Armory, and three NRA members, in partnership with Mountain States Legal Foundation, filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s waiting period requirements for firearm purchases.

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.