New York Times: The Guns Were Said to Be Destroyed. Instead, They Were Reborn.

“…weapons slated for destruction are recycled into civilian hands, often with no background check required…”

Unbeknownst to elected officials and community organizations working to prevent gun violence through buyback programs, companies contracted to “destroy” firearms have been reselling nearly complete guns, often without background checks, according to a new report from the New York Times. 

In response, Everytown’s Senior Vice President for Law and Policy, Nick Suplina, released the following statement:

“This reporting should serve as a wakeup call to local governments, police departments, and community organizations who participate in these programs to ensure their contracts with companies advertising services to ‘destroy’ firearms are actually following through on that commitment. Taxpayer dollars and charitable donations that fund these buyback programs should not be used to subsidize the proliferation of untraceable guns that put families, law enforcement, and our communities at risk. We know gun companies have no qualms fueling this crisis for profit — those working to get guns off of the streets shouldn’t be inadvertently adding fuel to that fire.” 

More from the New York Times:

• Hundreds of towns and cities have turned to a growing industry that offers to destroy guns used in crimes, surrendered in buybacks or replaced by police force upgrades. But these communities are in fact fueling a secondary arms market, where weapons slated for destruction are recycled into civilian hands, often with no background check required, according to interviews and a review of gun disposal contracts, patent records and online listings for firearms parts.
  
• Some public officials and gun safety advocates said they had no clue this was happening.
  
• The industry relies on contracts with public agencies at the local, state and federal levels, and is subsidized by tax dollars and charitable donations that pay for buybacks. Governments arguably could be seen as complicit in bad outcomes — if a recycled assault weapon from Flint, for example, was later used in a deadly shooting.
  
• But while the parts kits have legitimate uses, they could also further the spread of so-called ghost guns when paired with an untraceable receiver or frame, said Nicholas Suplina, a senior lawyer with Everytown for Gun Safety. The number of do-it-yourself ghost guns turning up in violent crimes has surged, made possible by unfinished components — prefabricated metal pieces that need welding and drilling — that are not serialized, and often do not require a background check when purchased separately. “These parts kits provide the necessary elements to complete a gun by a person who couldn’t pass a background check,” Mr. Suplina said.

Read the full story here.