Gun by Gun

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Gun buybacks give people a safe, anonymous way to dispose of unwanted and illegal guns. They’re typically single-day events held in partnership between law enforcement and community groups where anyone can turn in a gun, no questions asked, and receive some form of compensation. All guns collected are safely destroyed. The core rationale for a buyback is that that communities with fewer guns have fewer homicides, suicides, and accidental gun deaths[i]. To date, gun buybacks in the U.S. have occurred on an inconsistent basis with limited funding. As a result, they haven’t achieved a sufficient scale to demonstrate an impact on macro gun violence statistics. Because there is very little data available on their micro impacts, questions are frequently raised about their effectiveness. To understand if and how buybacks are effective in reducing gun violence, GunByGun has surveyed existing studies and collected data from participants in a broad sample of buyback programs.