A invoice banning native governments from shopping for again weapons on the taxpayer dime is making substantial progress within the Texas State legislature.
On Might 13, 2025, the Texas Home of Representatives handed Home Invoice 3053, a measure that prohibits counties and cities from spending taxpayer cash on gun buyback applications.
The invoice was launched by freshman Republican legislator Wesley Virdell. It was handed with a decisive 85-56 vote after heated debate. On Might 26, the State Senate handed HB 3053 by a vote of 20-11.
State Sen. Bob Corridor, mentioned to elected officers throughout an earlier dialogue on Might 26 it was a “crucial guardrail in opposition to misuse of native authority.”
Gun buyback applications are initiatives the place native governments provide money or present playing cards to residents who voluntarily flip in firearms. The acknowledged objective of those measures is to scale back the variety of weapons in circulation, thereby decreasing the danger of gun violence, accidents, and suicides, a minimum of on paper.
Politicians have carried out these applications in cities throughout the US for many years, usually in response to spikes in gun crime or high-profile shootings.
Nonetheless, the effectiveness of those applications is hotly debated. A number of research have discovered that the weapons turned in are hardly ever these more than likely for use in crimes—usually outdated, inoperable, or undesirable firearms. The size of most buybacks can be too small to make a notable dent within the general variety of weapons in circulation. In consequence, critics argue that buybacks are extra symbolic than substantive, providing little affect on public security.
Virdell, alluded to the case of Baltimore, Maryland, the place the town held a gun buyback program that “when adjusted for inflation, they spent the equal of at present’s cash of $4.3 million. Although Virdell famous that the outcome was troubling: “homicides and firearm-related assaults rose by over 50 % following the Baltimore ‘buyback.’”
“[B]ased on the research and a number of the individuals who’ve really participated in these gun ‘buybacks’ … large prices of cash from the taxpayers, and it doesn’t even have any statistical proof that it reduces crime or suicides… in some instances, crime really elevated in these areas afterwards,” added Virdell.
Democratic lawmakers, led by Representatives Gene Wu and Trey Martinez-Fischer, pushed again in opposition to the invoice. They argued that native governments ought to have the liberty to attempt totally different approaches to gun violence, together with buybacks, if their communities help them.
Whereas acknowledging that buybacks might not dramatically scale back crime, they pointed to different advantages—similar to offering a secure method for folks to get rid of undesirable firearms and elevating consciousness about gun security.
For opponents, HB 3053 is a part of a broader development in Texas politics of the state authorities preempting native authority, notably in city areas that lean Democratic. In recent times, the Texas legislature has handed legal guidelines limiting cities’ capability to manage points starting from minimal wage insurance policies to environmental requirements.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez emphasised that whereas state lawmakers oversee state funds, they don’t management metropolis budgets.
“No disrespect, however how dare you come to me and inform me what the Metropolis of San Antonio ought to do with their tax {dollars}?” Gutierrez, who represents elements of San Antonio, mentioned.
With the Senate’s passage of HB 3053, the invoice now heads to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, the place it’s anticipated to be signed into legislation, making Texas one of many few states to explicitly ban taxpayer-funded gun buyback applications.
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About José Niño
José Niño is a contract author based mostly in Austin, Texas. You’ll be able to contact him by way of Fb and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack e-newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
