Govt. Gun Buyback Programs: What happens to the Guns???

I have questions about guns turned in during a government sponsored buyback program. Specifically in the United States of America (not the homeland or overseas homelands nor any of that #$%^).

Do the serial numbers of these buy-backs get run against the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) to see if they have been stolen? If so, would they be returned to the rightful owners? (Need to know!!!)

Also, if they are candidates for ballistic testing for murders, is that done (if NCIC flags positive)??? What if the positives indicated the murder of a LEO or Fed-type? Would there be a difference in the disposition of the so-called "no questions asked" policy?

Is the buy-back program destroying evidence that may have eventually convicted the perpetrator of a heinous crime, only to appease the lib-tards who hate the fact that anyone owns a gun?

These are questions that seem simple, but I am guessing that the answers are not.

Edit: since some jump to the lowest common denominator conclusions: the questions are asked so that we might know if our stolen guns have been destroyed for around $40.00 US never to be seen again. Not to find out how to dispose of a hot gun. can't believe I have to go there. And because maybe someone will lose evidence that helps them to find the killer or assailant of a loved one. OK????

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


i dont know about the forensic testing angle, but in the mid-90s some buddies and I scrounged dozens of non-functioning firearms from one guy's father's gun-shop work bench. We cobbled the things together in any way we could...if I remember correctly, one single-barrel shotgun was duct taped into the stock of an old rifle. I think one dude actually spot welded segments of rifle barrels onto rusted pistol receivers, sandblasted them and sprayed them with black krylon.

i think we got $100.00 each for these gun-shaped objects, each of which actually looked like a functioning firearm, and made about $3200.00.

so, the lesson that has been pretty well learned is to "turn in" crappy old rusty and dusty popguns and take the man for all you can get him for. use the proceeds for new, modern semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines, and the ammunition to stuff into them.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


Why???
You thinking bout dumping a hot used gun?
Best to take said firearm to your local blacksmith if that is the case.
Truly i dunno what they do but, i imagine they should, however even if they did test, they destroy the evidence before getting results anyway.
Now on the other hand, if you had a gun stolen, write it off.

reply to post by MMPI2


As far as ballistics testing the idea that certain brand of guns have certain lands and groove called rifling. It is pseudo science to state that a person can pinpoint the actual gun a projectile was fired from. The narrowest margin for determining a specific gun is rifling twist and number of lands and grooves on the bullet. No descernable "DNA fingerprint" of what gun it was fired from and the closest you will get to the match is maybe the brand and caliber. Like I said it is pseudo science and it holds up in court sometimes with ignorant jurors( I don't mean ignorant as stupid, just meaning they are misinformed).

The gun buyback program is sham because I had a gun illegally confiscated from me a few years back and it was legally mine and I broke no laws pertaining to having my rifle confiscated. I was mad as hell but I didn't have the money to fight it in court so I just let it blow by. Needless to say the police dept at Byrnes mill, Missouri kept my gun and wouldn't let me have it back and said it was destroyed in the gun buy back program.
I was at a gun show 3 months later and was looking at a venders booth looking at his guns he was selling and noticed a 7.62x51 L96a1 that looked exactly like my rifle that was stolen by the police department. After a closer look I inspected the ghillie sock ( I make my own ghillie suits, drag bags and gun socks) and the gun I realized it was my friggin gun!!!!!!! I had it engaved with her name on it "caroline" . I name all my rifles because it is an old tradition.
I informed the seller that it was my rifle and he looked at me like I was nuts until I took the stock pull adjustment off and pulled out a piece of paper and $400 I had saved just in case I had to bug out in a hurry and forgot my wallet. He about crapped a golden brick! I then proceeded to tell him the story as to how it was stolen from me and he was mad that an officer would do that to a civilian. The only reason I got pulled over is because I was 2 days past on getting my plates renewed on my truck. I should tell you that I paid a LOT of money to get that rifle and I was a very hard to find rifle.
Needless to say the police dept. sold Caroline to him for $200 and I bought it back from him with the money in the stock. It is one of those few coincidences in a man's life that makes you think "WEIRD". The gun buy back program is a sham because the guns are just going right back into the system to the highest bidder. Some other precincts may be different but Byrnes Mill isn't exactly an honest police Dept.
I often wondered why they don't return the stolen guns to the rightfull owner but then I realized the police depts are indeed a business, and they would be losing potential revenue if they just gave back stolen property instead of capitalizing on stolen goods too. It is depressing that this cycle keeps going and going

A lot of thins are supposed to happen to them and a lot ofthongs actually happen to them.

The story you're sold is that the cops run the numbers and do ballistic tests to see if any were ever used in crimes then melt down the rest.

For a number of reasons this ballistic checking and numbers running is impractical and infeasible and therefore isn't done.

The melting is more likely though the melting takes a backseat to selling. Not in state selling of course. They get sold wholesale to FFL's out of state.

If you have had a firearm stolen and it happens to show up in one of these "buybacks" (implying you bought it from the cops in the first place) the chances that it would be returned to you are astronomically low.

What they tell you happens and what actually happens are very different things.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by g146541

Why???
You thinking bout dumping a hot used gun?
Best to take said firearm to your local blacksmith if that is the case.
Truly i dunno what they do but, i imagine they should, however even if they did test, they destroy the evidence before getting results anyway.
Now on the other hand, if you had a gun stolen, write it off.

Why are you jumping to conclusions including me in the criminal bracket. Are you a troll? You offer nothing informative about the OP, so....

I won't even respond to your other comments since you started off on a really bad note with me.

reply to post by MMPI2


I'm not interested in the "making money" on selling cr@p guns back, or other angles some posters have mentioned.

I was wanting to know if any gun owners who had been burglarized or otherwise ripped-off could get their d@mn guns back! Some of us care, especially about special ones or those with sentimental value (e.g. heirlooms etc.)

It burns me to think of stolen items that belong to someone being destroyed by the gov.!

Not to mention evidence that others may want to solve the murders of their loved ones. How 'bout them apples?!

reply to post by agentblue

I was at a gun show 3 months later and was looking at a venders booth looking at his guns he was selling and noticed a 7.62x51 L96a1 that looked exactly like my rifle that was stolen by the police department. After a closer look I inspected the ghillie sock ( I make my own ghillie suits, drag bags and gun socks) and the gun I realized it was my friggin gun!!!!!!! I had it engaved with her name on it "caroline" . I name all my rifles because it is an old tradition.

I appreciate your post, because something similar happened to me. Let's just say the LEO from a small town was not happy when I used all means at my disposal to get my confiscated weapon back, after a court-ordered return.
It took three trips to that place and it was like pulling teeth; only successful after I brought someone with me as a witness. It turned out the pistol was not even on the premises where evidence was supposed to be kept. Took more than 30 mins and an overheard reprimand of the officer to get it back and "why wasn't it in proper evidence storage!!!". Then a look from the LEO like "if I ever see you again......".

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


well, the reason was it wasn't in the proper storage area, of course, was that the officer had "stored" it in his own personal collection at his house, and he was keeping a careful watch over it.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


well, i don't know about apples, but it would seem that folks who have lost their firearms, or had them stolen, could forward the make, model and serial # to the BATFE.

I'm pretty sure that serial #s of firearms acquired during "buybacks" are sent to the ATF by departments conducting the buyback. my guess is that they are required by federal law to interface with the feds about this stuff on some level.

reply to post by MMPI2

well, i don't know about apples, but it would seem that folks who have lost their firearms, or had them stolen, could forward the make, model and serial # to the BATFE.

That's why my OP said "run against the NCIC". That would mean that some agency ran the reported stolen serial numbers up to the federal database, known as the NCIC.

Specifically, does anyone know if the buyback programs are required to return stolen items to the rightful owners? Or to investigate possible links to crimes, especially violent ones? No guesses please; links or 1st hand info.

This is on the up & up, for victim protection and recompense. Not how to get rid of hot guns ...jeez...

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


im sort of curious about how all these guns are getting stolen or otherwise misappropriated by "the authorities" and placed into buyback programs.

Here in Conn. they just chop them with a chop saw and sell them as scrap steel or aluminum. There's no forensic done on them. It's not worth the time or money because all the firearms are turned in anonymously. When I worked at the scrap yard from 2003 to 2008 I had the job of doing this until I refused do to the fact that they weren't even trying to find the original owners! I saw engraved Weatherbys and Colts, S&W's that you just knew were stolen from someone's precious collection but the damned State Troopers could not have cared less. They put some moron that couldn't write his own name doing the chopping. I quit 6 months later!

Zindo

Ballistic checking and numbers running

In Calif no ballistic checks are done.

The numbers are run(just to close a case if stolen ) but in cities the gun is never returned unless it belongs to a cop, many people that find there guns were recovered and ask why they were not returned are told that the gun had been modified(sawed off) or other reasons that the department could not return it.
If your gun is stolen in one part of the state and recovered in another part forget it, the department that recovered it is under no obligation to return it. this goes for all recovered guns not just buybacks.

A few rural police departments do return the guns but only to some people.

I know a couple idiots that recovered a 20mm aircraft cannon from a old military crash site sand blasted it and painted it.
The stupid cops at the gun buy back gave them a extra $100 just because they though it was such a dangerous gun. The cops never really looked and saw the barrel was completely rusted shut and the fire damage had took all the temper out of the metal.
There was no way to ever make the cannon fire it was so damaged.
But the city made a big thing to the media about recovering a fully operational 20mm aircraft cannon.
The joke was a week later the feds showed up to recover military property and found the piece of junk.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings



Most get recycled by being melted down and used in building construction and whatnot.

reply to post by ZindoDoone


Sounds like what I was expecting. The thing that is so wrong with this is that taxpayer dollars are being spent to destroy someone's rightfully owned property, while taxpayer dollars are being spent to "investigate" burglaries, robberies or violent crimes. Where guns are stolen, and stolen guns used again respectively.

I suspect that a very small percentage (like close to 0) of the guns returned are legally bought and paid for by those in possession of them.

A small little step like running the SNs through the NCIC, then sending a letter to the owner advising him he has 90 days or so to collect his property (with proof: police report with SNs etc), would complete the investigations that taxpayer dollars were spent on. At least some victims would get a happy ending.

Edit: at least one of the buyback programs does claim to try returning the guns to owners, but says 1st that most will be destroyed Link Statesman.com found on Dimensional Detective's thread (post) :

Most of the guns collected would be destroyed, though some were being tagged for use in police training, said Austin police Lt. Ely Reyes , who helped coordinate the event.
Officials said they would check to see whether any of the guns had been reported as stolen and return such weapons to their owners.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


The justification (given to me like I was some 2 year old by the snotty lieutenant in charge) was that 'They already got paid by insurance companies so they don't need to get their property back!' Don't you just love the ignorance of that idea? I mean, I have insurance and most that have expensive arms do but some who are low or fixed income probably can't afford the rider to get it on their home owners or rental insurance! You loose 'gandpa's heirloom Springfield 1901 A-1 from Dubya Dubya One' your out something that meant something to the family as a whole. Stupidity is rife in our law enforcement community!
Zindo

reply to post by ZindoDoone

Stupidity is rife in our law enforcement community!

Maybe not so much. They get first pick on the goods! Nobody knows what SNs were turned in, those old 1903s, M1 Garands, 1873 Winchesters, Colt Peacemakers or early model S&Ws could be very useful for "training".

Apparently some of the turned-in guns come from widows who don't know what to do with the late husband's estate. What a gold mine for these buyback guys! Keeping us safer, fer shur.

Link: Statesman.com

Gloria Jones was among those who brought a gun to exchange for a gift card at the "no questions asked" event. She exchanged her husband's .22-caliber handgun because he died in June and she didn't have any use for it, she said.

What if it's a Colt Woodsman maybe, .22 LR, around $1200 in good condition. hmmmmm....good pickens....
It has to have happened already.

reply to post by 1SawSomeThings


The firearms dealers in this area have become smart enough to do some serious advertising for estate sales and gaining possession of firearms from families who wish to gain some benefit monetarily from lost loved ones possessions. It pisses off the law enforcement to no end but it's legal so they can bend over and take it!

I have no doubt that relieving gun buy backs of certain turn ins does happen. Many firearms are not in any data base so they can, and most likely do, get the pick of the litter as it were!

Zindo