Bergen County Gun Buyback Includes Potentially Valuable Guns

We hate gun buybacks. We can’t say that enough. These in all likelihood fail to actually get guns off the streets, and pay gun owners in most cases a mere fraction of what the firearm was worth. We’ve reported on these events time and time again, but this past weekend a buyback in Bergen County, New Jersey just proved our point, as two potentially valuable World War II era handguns were amongst those handed in.

The NorthJersey.com news site noted:

“Bergen County officers collected more than 700 firearms, including a couple of World War II era weapons, during the county’s first Gun Buy Back program, Sheriff Leo McGuire said Monday.”

The story further quoted McGuire as saying this was a “successful endeavor” that would somehow prevent future tragedies. The tragedy we see is that a couple of the guns noted are worth far more than was paid out, and yet the firearms weren’t doing any harm. The story added:

“The collection also included combat pistols taken from a Nazi soldier and another that once belonged to a Japanese fighter, McGuire said. The P38 pistol with a tiny swastika carving, visible with a magnifying glass, was turned over by the widow of a World War II veteran, the sheriff said. The woman said her husband had confiscated it from a German soldier during the war, McGuire said. The Japanese 32-caliber pistol was surrendered by a man who said his father had taken away the gun from a soldier in Hiroshima, according to county officials.”

Both handgun owners would have been paid a mere $75 the story adds (the emphasis on “mere” is our word however). There is yet a bright side to this story.

McGuire at least has noted that the guns may not be destroyed. He has apparently reached out to the military and reportedly suggested these items could end up in a museum. The irony here for the owners is that they could have simply donated the guns directly, and would have gotten a far larger tax credit than just $75.