There is another problem with buybacks: wingnut legal action.
A proposed gun buyback program in Tucson could place the city in a legal fight with the National Rifle Association.
[...]"With the success other cities have had with voluntary gun buybacks, I want to test the water to see how Tucson residents respond," Kozachik said. "The rules are simple: Bring in your gun on a totally voluntary basis, no questions asked, and you'll trade it for a Safeway $50 gift card."
[...]Kozachik will work with the Tucson Police Department so the guns will be disposed of properly.
It's a good way to take guns nobody wants anymore out of circulation, he says.
However, an NRA lobbyist said Arizona law renders any gun buyback meaningless since the Police Department would be required to return or resell them.
Todd Rathner, a member of the NRA's national board of directors, said the law was changed earlier this year because police departments were destroying firearms.
Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, last session sponsored an amendment to an Arizona statute that deals with how government entities sell property. The amendment said if the property being sold is a firearm, a court shall order it to be sold to any authorized business.
During a Judiciary Committee hearing, Murphy said he was trying to plug loopholes in the original 2010 law, which required cities to sell off weapons they seized. There was no discussion at all during the hearing about gun buyback programs, not from Murphy nor from John Wentling, lobbyist for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, which advocated for the change.
Rathner said the change means police departments can't destroy guns.
"The police would have to take the guns and run them through the national database. If they are stolen, they are returned to the owner," said. "If they are not stolen, (TPD) is mandated by state law to sell them to the public." (Arizona Daily Star)
