Gun buybacks aren’t shown to accomplish much of anything. We’ve seen the evidence time and time again. They don’t do anything except virtue signal that someone is supposedly taking violent crime seriously.

One of the problems is the amount of money being offered for guns.

Too high and people get creative. They buy low-cost guns and trade them in for many times more their value, or they make inexpensive firearms themselves, then sell them to the buyback–which isn’t buying anything back–and make serious bank.

Too low and it’s just laughable. Then again, too high and it’s laughable as well.

Well, an upcoming buyback in Washington state clearly falls into the laughable category.

The Everett Police Department will hold a guns for gift cards exchange event on Saturday in an effort to reduce gun violence by getting unwanted firearms out of the community.

Residents of Everett and Snohomish County will be able to trade in eligible firearms in exchange for pre-paid VISA gift card.

…

Snohomish County residents can trade in inoperable firearms for a $25 gift card, rifles and shotguns for a $100 gift card, handguns for a $200 gift card and AR-15 or AK-47s for a $300 gift card.

So why are these totals laughable?

Well, let’s start with $100 for rifles and shotguns. Now, AR-15s and AK-47s are also rifles, but it’s safe to say that there’s some degree of differentiation between those particular models and other rifles. Anyway, rifles and shotguns…well, $100 isn’t much of an offer on either. Most could sell them on consignment at a gun store and make much more money, plus have it in hard currency that they can use however they wish, not a pre-paid gift card.

Just about the only people willing to do so will likely be those trying to dump stolen guns they can’t sell on the black market. The others will be those who just want to dispose of guns–some criminal but many law-abiding folks who just don’t know what to do with Grandpa’s double-barreled shotgun.

The same applies to handguns. $200 might be a good offer on something inexpensive, like a Hi-Point, but that means someone can buy an inexpensive pistol and make a bit of profit on the deal.

Yet for the more common models, such as a Smith & Wesson or a Glock, well, it’s not enough to spark any degree of interest from anyone who lawfully has their guns but might be interested in getting rid of them.

And we all know how laughably low the offer is for AR-15s and AK-47s.

Some like to argue that buybacks work, that this is the way to curb violence in the community, but just looking at what’s being offered and we can see just why absolutely no one in their right mind would take advantage of it.

They’ll bring in some guns, sure, but don’t expect to see any difference in the local crime statistics.

This is nothing more than an attempt to look like someone is doing something, all without having to actually do anything substantial. When I call it virtue signaling, that’s really all it can be.