Some years ago I participated in a gun buyback in a midwestern city sponsored by a catholic church, which paid $40 for complete weapons, $20 for incomplete weapons. I expected to find a long line of repentent gangbangers turning in their Tec 9s. Silly me... what I found was a long line of housewives and old gaffers with armloads of rusty .22 rifles, single shot shotguns, and bits and pieces of long arms, all covered with cobwebs and rust.

As I waited, one old coot walked along the line with his .22 trying to trade it for a pistol--"Come on," he said. "They'll pay you the same for a rifle. Help me out." In front of the church an enterpreneur had parked his pickup with a big sign reading CASH FOR GUNS.

I had an #1 Mk* Enfield--in those days worth about $50 in original condition. My rifle had the barrel hacksawed off. I'd substituted a cutdown forearm for the original and removed every part I could manage, substituting bolts from my junk box to hold it together using crush fits. The buyback 'expert' pronounced my Enfield a 'jap rifle' and gave me my $40. He tossed it on a pile which contained the most abysmal collection of firearms junk I'd ever seen. I was lucky--shortly thereafter they ran out of money.

This experience made me a great fan of gun buybacks...(1)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (2) it channelled antigun monies to gun owners (3) it gave old coots an opportunity to trade for pistols at bargain prices.