Washington D.C. is doing another "gun buyback" this weekend. They are offering $10 for BB guns, $50 for rifles and revolvers, and $100 for auto-loading pistols. I saw a news report yesterday where the reporter raved over a semi-auto handgun that was turned in. Naturally it included references to large (actually normal) capacity magazines and concluded with the reporter calling it "essentially a machine gun" and the policeman being interviewed saying "essentially, yes."

A different video report from Fox 5 DC shows Rick Morrow turning in the guns his father left him. Eight rifles and a black powder pistol netted him $450 cash money, which he said he intends to blow on a nice dinner. Judging by the brief glimpse of the guns and the description of his father as an avid shooter, he probably could have sold them to gun collectors for a few hundred dollars each.

Guns (which are already illegal in D.C.) are being turned in for cash, no questions asked. The "buyback" is considered an amnesty, so police are not taking down any information and they cannot be traced back to the donor. Instead of tossing their murder weapons into the Potomac, criminals can sell them to the police with no chance of being caught. The police will even melt them down for scrap, ensuring they'll never be used as evidence against them. What a bargain.

It appeared as though many of the guns were junk and not likely to have been used in any crimes. Still, I've long wanted to hold my own personal gun buyback to catch those family heirlooms that idiots like Rick Morrow turn in. For a few thousand dollars I could get dozens of working guns to add to my collection. If any of them were worth less than $100, I could simply wait for the next D.C. buyback and turn them in for cash. And it would get them "off the streets" which is what D.C. wants to do.