{"id":151876,"date":"2021-09-23T10:25:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T14:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=151876"},"modified":"2021-09-23T10:25:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T19:15:25","slug":"social-worker-the-way-to-fix-gun-buybacks-is-to-offer-a-lot-more-money-for-street-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/social-worker-the-way-to-fix-gun-buybacks-is-to-offer-a-lot-more-money-for-street-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Worker: The Way to Fix Gun Buybacks Is to Offer A Lot More Money for Street Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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(Photo: ABC Action News<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The reason gun buybacks don\u2019t work is that the government is not offering enough money for street guns, argues Dr. Jonathan Wilson Jr., a social worker, researcher, and Southwest Philadelphia resident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson, who is confined to a wheelchair after multiple encounters with gun violence, made his case in a recent op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTypical black market prices for an automatic gun are between $800 and $1,000,\u201d Wilson explains. \u201cThe price for a revolver or a \u2018throwaway\u2019 is between $300 and $500. At those prices, $1 million would be enough to buy at least 1,000 firearms and make a significant reduction in the roughly 300 murders this city sees annually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhiladelphia, it\u2019s time to put our money where our mouth is and embrace data-driven decisions,\u201d he continues.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wilson contends that if the city offered at least \u201c$1,000 for automatics and ghost guns\u201d and \u201c$500 for revolvers\u201d it would move the needle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who oppose this are not wearing their thinking caps \u2014 the cost is but a fraction of the price needed to prosecute a homicide case or to incarcerate someone convicted of homicide for the rest of their life,\u201d says Wilson. \u201cMoreover, there is no price comparable to one life saved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Wilson seems like a nice guy. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With due respect to Dr. Wilson, let me just put on my \u201cthinking cap\u201d and say, in the nicest possible way, you have no idea what you\u2019re talking about, do you?<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with the \u201cdata,\u201d and make a \u201cdata-driven decision\u201d regarding gun buybacks.  The jury\u2019s in, they don\u2019t work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As GunsAmerica previously reported<\/a>, a 2021 study<\/a> of gun buybacks from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that \u201cUsing data from the National Incident Based Reporting System, we find no evidence that GBPs reduce gun crime,\u201d including \u201c suicides or homicides where a firearm was involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO: Elderly Ohio Woman Fatally Shoots Suspect Attacking Her Husband<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly though, the authors of the study observed a slight uptick in crime immediately following a gun buyback.  They expound as to why this might be the case.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven that most buybacks are small in scope, involve poorly functioning firearms, and involve participants with low propensity for crime, how can we explain the short-run small crime increase that we observe following a GBP (gun buyback program)?  The result is consistent with a number of hypotheses,\u201d they say, while enumerating the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n