El Paso, TX – Texas simply gave taxpayer-funded gun “buyback” applications the boot, and cities like El Paso are scrambling to carry one final turn-in occasion earlier than the brand new regulation takes impact.
Governor Greg Abbott signed Home Invoice 3053, blocking counties and cities from spending public cash to gather firearms from residents in change for present playing cards. For gun rights advocates, it’s a transparent victory towards what many see as feel-good disarmament theater.
“They’ve not had any impact on decreasing crime so far as gun crime in El Paso,” stated El Paso Republican Social gathering Chairman Michael Aboud. “In the event that they wish to scale back that, they need to go after the violent criminals.”
For years, El Paso County supplied as much as $200 for rifles—together with the dreaded “assault weapons” label politicians like to throw round. Now, Sheriff Oscar Ugarte says the brand new regulation “ties our fingers” and plans one final buyback earlier than the ban kicks in on September 1.
Symbolism Over Substance
Gun house owners and researchers alike have lengthy criticized buybacks for failing to handle actual crime. Research present many of the weapons collected are damaged, outdated, or just undesirable—whereas criminals maintain the firearms they really use.
In the meantime, personal consumers typically present up at these occasions providing money for priceless weapons, saving them from destruction. In a single 2023 El Paso occasion, $60,000 in taxpayer-funded present playing cards ran out in hours, and plenty of collectors walked away with mint-condition handguns and vintage rifles for pennies on the greenback.
“Calling it a ‘buyback’ is nonsense,” stated one AmmoLand reader in Texas. “The federal government can’t ‘purchase again’ what it by no means owned within the first place. This was at all times about optics, not security.”
A Broader Professional-2A Push
HB 3053 is a component of a bigger pro-gun wave in Texas. Lawmakers not too long ago handed measures banning pink flag legal guidelines, increasing entry to short-barrel rifles, and making handgun licenses extra accessible for Texans touring out of state.
Professional-2A leaders say Texas is sending a transparent message: they received’t let anti-gun activists chip away on the proper to maintain and bear arms beneath the guise of “public security.”
“El Paso politicians could be crying foul, however Texans know higher,” stated one native firearms coach. “Buybacks don’t cease criminals—they only make headlines and shred freedom.”
Because the clock ticks right down to September, El Paso’s ultimate buyback is shaping as much as be one final gasp for a program that gun house owners imagine ought to have been lifeless on arrival.
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About Tred Regulation
Tred Regulation is your on a regular basis patriot with a deep love for this nation and a no-compromise strategy to the Second Modification. He doesn’t write articles for Ammoland each week, however when he does write, it’s normally about liberals Fing together with his proper to maintain and bear arms.
