Gun-Buyback Programs Miss Their Mark

Insight on the News, Nov 27, 2000 by John Elvin

Government gun-buyback programs have strong emotional appeal but little practical value, according to studies cited by the Boston Globe. "Studies of gun buybacks, including a Harvard analysis of Boston's program, say unanimously that the programs don't work," according to the report. One problem is that few of the guns come from neighborhoods where authorities would like to see a reduction in weaponry. Also, studies in St. Louis, Seattle and elsewhere have shown that many of the 18- to 34-year-olds participating were turning in an old gun to get money to buy a new one. In general, sellers with arrest records also indicated they were seeking money to buy another gun.

The vast majority of weapons retrieved in buyback programs in several Massachusetts cities are "museum pieces" made before 1968, according to the Harvard study. Often, owners were afraid to fire them because of their antiquity. Some of those bought back actually have been donated to museums due to their rarity.

The report noted that following a 1997 Justice Department study showing gun buybacks to be the least-efficient form of crime control, President Clinton launched a $15 million buyback program administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The article quoted the author of the Justice study, criminologist Lawrence Sherman of the University of Pennsylvania, as saying that "the federal HUD buyback program will be a waste of money." He said it's part of "an emotional aspect to crime prevention that has nothing to do with the evidence" of practical benefits.