Why Oppose Gun Buybacks?

    Among the arguments against gun buybacks is that they are not effective; they don't take guns out of the hands of criminals. Elderly ladies whose gun-owning husbands had guns -- they turn them in. People who have had the guns for years with no intention of using them -- they turn them in. 

   But criminals? No, they don't turn them in.

   But it should be noted that many of the criminals who have guns stole them. If they know the grandma down the street has a gun, they might break in and steal it. And, if it is their own grandma, they might steal it without her even knowing it's missing. 

   Gun buybacks also -- at least to some degree -- take guns out of the hands of children and youth. Some of the guns turned in are turned in by parents. With those guns out of their homes, perhaps a suicide is avoided, perhaps a little toying around with dad's pistol where one youth accidentally kills another is avoided.

   It is hard to quantify the success of gun buybacks. You can't count up events that never happen. There is no record of the lives saved. 

   But, regardless whether gun buybacks are effective, why should anyone oppose people getting rid of their guns? Why should anyone oppose gun buybacks? If someone wants to get rid of their gun, that's cool. Give the gun to the police and let the police destroy it.