Sen. Feinstein suggests national buyback of guns

[ZX86]

“We are also looking at a buy-back program,” Feinstein said today in a press conference. “Now, again, this is a work in progress so these are ideas in the development.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/sen.-feinstein-suggests-national-buyback-of-guns/article/2516648#.UODQSHc7270
(Don't click on this link unless you prefer a lot of right wing nonsense with your news)

Since this is a work in progress here are my suggestions:

1. Make program voluntary to bypass any constitutional issues.
2. Include a 5 million dollar tax free monthly lottery. One lottery ticket per firearm.
3. $50 - $500 depending on type and condition of firearm.
4. Pay out to be given in retailer gift cards. (Retailer gift cards could be acquired at below face value through donations, special promotions, tax incentives, etc.)
5. Firearms worth more than $500 would be given 1 additional lottery ticket per $100 in value (ex. firearm worth $600 you get $500 gift card + 2 lottery tickets, firearm worth $700 you get $500 gift card + 3 lottery tickets.

Advantages:

1. No 2nd Amendment issues.
2. Lottery would provide free publicity and incentive to participate.
3. Sweeps thousands of unused and unwanted guns off the streets in a short period of time.
4. Can provide opportunity for law enforcement to distribute gun safety and crime prevention information.
5. Gift card purchases will stimulate economy.

I think including a lottery is very important. Guns appeal to people's fears. A lottery would appeal to their greed. In my experience with human emotions greed trumps fear a majority of the time. Especially if the fear is weak and unfounded. I believe a fantasy of winning 5 million dollars will resonate with more people than shooting scores of people in a zombie apocalypse. Also since the lottery would be open to gun buy back participants only the odds of winning would be much higher than normal lotteries.

Does anybody else have any good ideas on a federal gun buy back program? Now is the time to get them in the public domain.

[datasuspect]

1. wait, they can't find money to repair essential infrastructure

so where is the money gonna come from? will they pull it out of their ass?

we have drones to pay for, troops to pay, and a drug war to fund.

[ZX86]

10. While I have no stats.....

The program would pay for itself through savings associated with decreased gun violence.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Sounds good to me.

I like the lottery part of it.

I have guns that I have that have never left their box and I have never fired. I bought them people who needed money but didn't want to pawn them.

[ZX86]

25. Shooting is a hobby.

Just like so many hobbies people lose interest. Garages are filled with unused bicycles and exercise equipment. Shooting is also expensive. A gun buy back program would be a good opportunity for casual gun owners to rid themselves of unused and unneeded weapons.

[banned from Kos]

3. just a gimmick. There are over $250 million guns in the USA

all this would do is increase the demand for them.

[Squinch]

4. How would this increase demand?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

5. But I want to keep my guns.

Most of my guns are worth more than $500... and I wouldn't sell them for cash for what they're actually worth let alone trade them for $500 in gift cards and some lotto tickets. For me to sell my guns to the government, it would have to offer more in cash than it's worth to me, like any other person trying to buy it.

I can buy a bigger-payout lotto ticket for like $1-$5...

[ZX86]

8. No, you won't get a pony.

This program would not be for gun nuts with thousands of dollars invested in firearms.

Do you have any good ideas to reduce gun violence?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

12. Several.

[ZX86]

14. Care to share?

Or just poo poo the ideas of others?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. She is not serious, not at those prices

Retail might get some takers.

I fully expect to see FFL advertising that they will pay more for guns than those prices. In places it has already happened.

Then again, $200 for empty rocket tubes that the COP later makes a fool out of himself over is indeed priceless

[Lizzie Poppet]

11. I think those details were the OP's

And while I have some issues with the proposal, I definitely commend him/her for coming up with some actual ideas instead of the usual vitriol that passes for "discussion" of this topic around here any more. Well done, OP.

[ZX86]

15. Thank you.

Curious about your issues though. A voluntary buy back program would increase gun awareness, reduce guns on the street, and stimulate the economy. It looks like a win-win for everybody. I really don't see a down side.

[Lizzie Poppet]

17. Just with some details.

The payment amounts will have to have a much higher cap, I fear. The market is insane right now. I think the lottery idea is clever, though...and a buyback program in general is probably the only way to get more than token compliance with any retroactive restriction of certain weapon types.

Even if retroactive possession restrictions aren't enacted, a federal-level buyback could indeed reduce the number of civilian firearms, particularly among those who aren't actually active shooters. It is my suspicion that these weapons are more likely to be improperly secured and thus more likely to fall into criminal hands (shooting enthusiasts tend to have gun safes...).

[ZX86]

19. My idea is limited in scope.

It is strictly voluntary and not intended to work in tandem with gun restriction laws or entice every gun fetishist to give up his firearm. Any legislation restricting gun ownership will be challenged in court for years. My idea bypasses all that.

On a side note I would suspect that more expensive guns are kept secured better than cheap ones. Just like you don't see people parking their Ferrari on the street overnight and unlocked if you own expensive firearms worth thousands you just don't leave them laying around.

[NV Whino]

7. Senator Feinstein is an idiot

[-..__...]

9. Lottery... schmottery...

offer me $5,000 per bullet just like that Chris Rock guy suggests, and I'll give the idea some serious consideration.

Until then, this is just another bubbled-headed pipe dream from the eternally clueless.

And this just in from East Berlin...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., already discussed the possibility of a buy-back law for his state, but he made clear it would be a forced buyback.

“Confiscation could be an option,” Cuomo told The New York Times yesterday when discussing semiautomatic weapons. “Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”

Hey brainiac... "forced buy back" is confiscation.

"Mandatory sale to the state" is confiscation.

I'm itching to hear how Der Kommisar plans on implementing this grand scheme of his, and what the response will be from his Stasi?

This ass is looking to create more problems than he solves.

[ZX86]

13. I think you're missing the point.

The gun buy back program is not about you. I have seen several posts by people claiming to own latest laser scoped, semi-automatic, massacre class, Kill Master 5000 assault rifle, w/optional shopping mall, movie theater, and school yard settings and how it is so expensive they wouldn't dream of turning it in for $500.

Well I didn't turn in my new luxury car in the Cash for Clunkers program either. It doesn't mean it wasn't worth while or a success.

What Cuomo attempts in New York state is not the topic of this post.

[-..__...]

18. Well then...

you probably should have included...

(Don't click on this link unless you prefer a lot of left wing or right wing nonsense with your news).

Cuomo's is just that... nonsense, but it is scary that an elected public official would even think along these lines.

Shit like this shouldn't be ignored by anyone on either side of the issue.

[jmg257]

16. If you're gonna bother, might as well make the guns illegal to possess 1st. THEN offer a

1-time tax credit per firearm during a grace period.

When the value plummits , people will be thrilled to get what they can.

[ZX86]

20. Missing the point.

Any gun grabbing legislation will be in the courts for years. This is about getting as many guns off the streets as quickly as possible. Not fulfilling the dreams of the most ardent anti-gun activists.

[jmg257]

21. Understood. From previous local examples, a buy back could be quite successful, in getting a bunch

off the streets. Not sure what difference overall it would make, but it couldn't hurt (wonder how $$$ it would turn out to be?).
At the least you would think most of those valued less then $500 would be sold off.

But you may run into an issue where at the same time they are trying to pass a ban on let's say "assault weapons", or "semi-auto whatever" - without doing away with grandfathering - the very guns most would like to remove will shoot up in value to WAY more then $500. Lotto is a nice angle, but not sure it will matter to many.

I think a new ban would have some protection against transfers & private sales though, so it may lessen that affect.

Hmmm...

[guardian]

22. symbolism over substance

What a piece of shit useless idea. If implemented it won't make a bit of difference. All it will do is buy a bunch of cheap and broken gun and people will use the money to buy better guns.

And the lottery ticket component is insulting. Feinstein is a dumb ass.

[ZX86]

24. I think you're missing some important points.

The proposed ideas are mine, not Feinstein's. When you say "it won't make a difference" what are you referring to? Gun sales? Gun deaths? Mass killings? Do you really believe the majority of people who participate in buy back programs are gun nuts who fence their gift cards and use the proceeds to buy more guns? Why is a lottery insulting?

[aikoaiko]

23. Better than a ban.

[Loudly]

26. Unless the spigot is turned off at the source, buybacks are probably futile.

[ZX86]

28. I disagree.

Gun ownership can be marginalized just like cigarette smoking without making illegal. You just have to be creative.

[Loudly]

30. I appreciate your positiveness!

What is more injurious to our health? Second-hand smoke or bullets?

[slackmaster]

27. If that idea gains any traction, someone else will say something else somewhere

And it will be on the Internet.

[julian09]

29. She could sell the guns to Syrian and Iranian dissidents