Most of these turn-ins that I have read of claim to check the guns serial numbers to see if they are stolen. Typically, on 1-2 percent of the guns turn up stolen.
As for people turning in guns that are valuable for peanuts, at the last Tucson turn in, a gun owner insisted on turning in a mint Colt Python for $100, even though he was offered several hundred dollars for it.
He wanted to be sure the gun was destroyed.
Sort of a “Potlatch” ritual, I guess.
Many of the people turning in the guns are widows who inherited them and have no idea of their value. At the Lansing turn-in last Saturday, someone turned in a matched pair of pearl handled 1911 type pistols for $100 each.
That SHOULD BE a crime (turning in 1911’s at a buyback).
Any of mine that I haven’t given to my nephews or other relatives at such time as I feel the impending shuffling off of the coil coming will go into “deep future patriot storage”...