Gun by back programs, started during World War 2 in which the military purchased thousands of qualifying shotguns, rifles, and sidearms for use by Civil Defense units and for training purposes. One of the largest buybacks in history was the 1996 Australian Buyback in which over 600,000 firearms were purchased by the government from its citizens. The huge number was a result of most types of firearms being banned in that county the same year, and thus made illegal. Since the assault weapons ban in the United States, many organizations and cities have had their own buy backs with the publicly stated purpose of reducing the number of unwanted firearms on the streets and thus cutting back on crime. These programs have gained momentum in the past decade with agencies offering as much as $200 in gift cards (often donated by local businesses) for each firearm turned in– no questions asked, with the harvested firearms being destroyed.
However overblown headlines, overpaying for junk firearms, and over-hyping the number of firearms bought in relation to those still available are all oft-under addressed.
See the rest at my column at Firearms Talk.com http://www.firearmstalk.com/entries/Gun-Buyback-Program-Myths.html
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About laststandonzombieisland
Let me introduce myself. I am a bit of a conflict junkie. I am fascinated by war and warfare, assassination, personal protection and weaponry ranging from spud guns and flame throwers to thermonuclear bombs and soviet-trained Ebola monkeys. In short, if it’s violent or a tool to create violence it is kind of my thing.
I have written a few hundred articles on the dry encyclopedia side for such websites as History Times, Firearms Talk.com, GUNS.com, Suite 101 (where I am the contracted Feature Writer for Military History) and Combat Forums; as well as for print publications like England Expects, and Strike First Strike Fast. Several magazines such as Sea Classics, Military Historian and Collector, Mississippi Sportsman and Warship International have carried my pieces. Additionally I am on staff as a naval consultant and writer for Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine.
Currently I am working on several book projects, including a section in the upcoming Mississippi Encyclopedia (to be published by Ole Miss this summer), an alternative history novel about the US-German War of 1916, and a biography of Bennett Doty. My first novel, about the coming zombie apocalypse was released this Spring by Necro Publications and can be found at Amazon.com.
In my day job I am a contractor for the US federal government in what could best be described as the ‘Force Protection’ field. In this I am a certified Firearms, and less-than-lethal combat instructor.
