I’m kind of odd for a Second Amendment advocate. You see, I kind of like gun buybacks.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think they’re idiotic, and they don’t accomplish much of what they’re supposed to accomplish, but I tend to get a good chuckle out of stuff that’s been turned in. I’ve seen “firearms” that were little more than a pipe on a piece of wood. I’ve seen law enforcement brag about taking a “bazooka” off the streets when it was nothing more than a training aid. Sometimes, buybacks give us plenty to cackle about.

The buyback in Clermont, Florida is no exception.

Clermont police collected 27 guns Thursday while playing their part in the annual Central Florida Kicks 4 Guns campaign, in which residents handed over guns, no questions asked, at a drop-off station at Stormy Hill Harley-Davidson on U.S. 27 in exchange for Walmart gift cards.

Clermont Sgt. Malcolm Draper said visitors came in waves to drop off unwanted firearms, which mostly meant rifles and handguns.

“For us that’s a decent turnout,” Draper said. When the Clermont Police Department ran a station in 2018, they only collected a little over a dozen.

In total, over 300 guns were collected this year across Central Florida at stations in Orange and Volusia counties as well as Clermont.

So they got all kinds of deadly weapons off the streets of central Florida, right?

Well…not so much.

While photos aren’t included with the rest of the metro area, which includes Orlando, the photos for Clermont show us some of what was turned in. Perhaps the most humorous to me might be what looks like a small-caliber muzzleloader that might not even be a functional weapon.

I’m sure a Red Coat is prowling around Florida right now feeling much safer today thanks to the buyback.

The rest of the firearms shown appear to be inexpensive .22 rifles, though there’s at least one shotgun that had gotten the tacticool treatment somewhere along the line. They also have a couple of handguns photographed, but not so well that I could identify the make.

All in all, it’s par for the course for a buyback event. They didn’t get any guns that represent real threats to the population.

Plus, if you look at 300 guns from an area that represents roughly 2.5 million people, I’m not entirely convinced that even amounts to a drop in the bucket of all the firearms out there.

Honestly, that’s not surprising.

You see, criminals aren’t going to sell back guns unless they need to dump them for some reason. I mean, guns are the “tools of the trade” for these people. Would a carpenter sell his hammer? Would a mechanic sell his wrench? Of course not, so why anyone would think a criminal would do so with his gun is beyond me.

These buybacks continue to spend money with no appreciable return on that investment. It’s nothing more than an effort that lets people pat themselves on the back for all the good they’re doing without having done any good.