Free Republic

A gun control activist was “aghast” and dismayed to learn that the burgeoning blue-city gun buyback culture is actually feeding a secondary arms and gun parts market. The New York Times focused on a recent gun buyback in Flint, Michigan, noting that Gunbusters, a Missouri company, was contracted to handle the weapons which were surrendered. According to the NYT, “[Gunbusters] has taken in more than 200,000 firearms over the past decade from about 950 police agencies around the country, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to St. Louis to Hartford, Vermont.”

UTICA, N.Y. (UPDATED) -- A man who identified himself only as "Kem" saw people tweeting about using 3D printers to make guns for the sole purpose of selling them for big bucks at gun buyback programs, like the one the New York State Attorney General's Office held at the Utica Police Department last month. He got to work on a $200 3D printer he got for Christmas. "I 3D-printed a bunch of lower receivers and frames for different kinds of firearms," said Kem. Then, he drove six hours to Utica. "And he sees the tote and says, 'how many firearms...

Today we look at a success story of sorts: A smart Texan turned in cheaply made printed guns and came away making $2800 in profit!

--(snip) "If Biden is serious about wanting to reduce gun deaths in the country, however, there is a reasonable proposal he supports that should garner support from people on both sides of the aisle: voluntary gun buybacks. This isn’t the mandatory gun buyback idea from former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Texas Democrat, that resulted in him getting a ton of downvotes on Reddit. That’s a horrible idea that many Democrats don’t support either. Rather, the federal government could create a program that provides grants and resources for states, cities, and towns that want to hold voluntary gun buyback programs. Costs...

New figures obtained by RNZ show last year had the highest rates of gun crime and deaths involving firearms for nearly 10 years. But despite that rise, there has not been a corresponding increase in officers taking out or using their guns. The figures, obtained from police under the Official Information Act, show the rates of gun crime went up in both 2018 and 2019. Last year, there were 3540 occasions where an offender was found with a gun. And in both of the last two years, the rate of deadly incidents involving a firearm was the highest it had...

... In claiming that U.S. corporations have somehow become selfish weapons of mass economic destruction, Messrs. Sanders and Schumer encourage readers to look back to those good old days of the 1960s when American businesses were the engines of broad prosperity. The two men remember those times well, and clearly they were highly impressed. That’s why as young men they became stalwart champions of the free enterprise system. Just kidding. That was the era when Chuck Schumer was becoming active in Harvard’s Young Democrats club before volunteering for the left-wing presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy. Later, after graduating from Harvard’s...

... Between 2008 and 2017, 466 of the S&P 500 companies spent around $4 trillion on stock buybacks, equal to 53 percent of profits. Another 30 percent of corporate profits went to dividends. When more than 80 percent of corporate profits go to buybacks and dividends, there is reason to be concerned. This practice of corporate self-indulgence is not new, but it’s grown enormously. Fueled by the Trump tax cut, in 2018, United States corporations repurchased more than $1 trillion of their own stock, a staggering figure and the highest amount ever authorized in a single year. This has become...

During the Christmas of 1914, some French, British, and German soldiers along World War I’s Western Front informally ceased hostilities in order to celebrate the holiday. The truce offered the combatants a brief moment to celebrate their shared humanity amidst the otherwise ghastly conflict. No such luck for Americans weary of the United States’ all-consuming culture war. For anti-gun zealots, the Christmas season offers fresh opportunities to mold the next generation of obedient statists. On December 13, the Village of Hempstead, N.Y. hosted the Long Island Toy Gun Exchange Program, modelled after so-called gun “buybacks” that target real firearms. According...

St. Louis city leaders hope that a program to give cash in exchange for guns Saturday will help curb the city’s increasing violence. But experts say gun buybacks — while popular — are ineffective. That doesn’t sway the St. Louis mayor. “Frankly, if we get one, or two, or 10 guns off the street that would have been used in a serious crime, I will consider that a success,” Mayor Lyda Krewson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There is not one thing that we can do that will solve this. We have to do a lot of different things on...

The State Attorney General for New Jersey has been pumping up state-sponsored gun buy back programs scheduled for this weekend, arguing the events will help in the fight against violent crime. In an opinion piece published Thursday in the Star-Ledger, New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino admits that gun buy backs are not a complete solution but argues the events can do a lot to help law enforcement get crime guns off the streets. “Some doubters question the overall efficacy of buybacks, while others suggest that buybacks tend to bring in mostly old ‘attic’ guns,” Porrino said. “But once a...

American businesses are borrowing at historic high levels, but the only thing growing as a result is how fast their equity capital is vanishing, according to David Stockman, White House budget chief during the Reagan administration. Stockman blamed the Fed and the Fed's Wall Street cheerleaders. He said the Fed’s balance sheet has ballooned by nine times since 2000, yet real net investment in the business sector has cratered by 33 percent during the same time period. “Once upon a time businesses borrowed long term money — if they borrowed at all — in order to fund plant, equipment and...

"...A pro-gun group claims it flipped the script on Chicago's firearms buyback program by selling old, broken rifles to the city and then using the money to buy guns and ammo for an NRA-sponsored shooting camp for kids..."

Beneficary may "buy...bigger gun""More than 250 guns traded for gas," staff writer Steven Ward of The Advocate tells us. The program, Gas for Guns, is a no-questions-asked, voluntary gun buyback program sponsored by Circle K and local law enforcement agencies. "No-questions-asked" means those of you with stolen guns--or even ones used in "guncrimes!"--can not only count on the police to dispose of evidence for you, they'll also act as your fence and reward you for your enterprising ways. And they'll do this knowing it won't make a damn bit of difference in "combating gun violence." Something that's pretty well been...

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst said it’s time for Texas transportation officials to talk about real reforms to address the public outrage over the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. The Brenham Republican’s reaction followed Thursday’s actions taken by the Texas Transportation Commission. The panel adopted a set of guiding principals and policies which will govern the development, construction and operation of all toll road projects on the state highway system and the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Bob Colwell, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer for the Bryan district, said the adoption of the guidelines does not reflect the final approval of Interstate 69...

Here is the full press release issued Thursday afternoon by State Representative Wayne Christian: Today State Representative Wayne Christian (R-Center), President of the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC), announces an agreement on vital issues regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Transportation Commission adopted a minute order today reaffirming five statutory requirements proposed by the members of the TCC and issuing two new protections for future transportation infrastructure development.  The minute order is a response to a February 4 letter from the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC), the conservative caucus of the Texas Legislature.  Rep. Christian, along with thirty-three of his colleagues in the State House, signed it...