Councilwoman Ryan Proposes Gun Buyback Program — Strategy Experts Say is Ineffective

Councilwoman Ryan Proposes Gun Buyback Program — Strategy Experts Say is Ineffective

On Wednesday, Councilwoman Jo-Ann Ryan proposed a gun buyback program to combat the recent violence in Providence — 5 murders in a two week period.

“I plan to introduce a resolution calling on the City’s Public Safety Department to institute a citywide gun buyback program in the hopes of getting some of these weapons off of our streets in the upcoming City Council legislative session beginning in September,” said Ryan.

But, for more than a decade research and gun control advocates have dismissed the strategy of gun buybacks as being ineffective.

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In 2013, a major story Governing magazine reported, “Gun rights advocates say buybacks don’t serve any real purpose. John Josselyn of the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore called a December buyback in his city ‘symbolism over substance’ and ‘a publicity stunt.’ Josselyn turned in a nonworking gun and noticed many other people doing the same, he says. ‘None of these would be attractive to a criminal.’”

A range of research shows that few if any of the guns purchased are linked to crime or that those that are sold at the buybacks are those linked to crimes. Many of the guns sold are broken.

A Harvard University study reported by NPR dating from the mid-1990s found that buybacks were largely ineffective in reducing gun violence because they weren't getting the right kinds of weapons off the street.

Another comprehensive study published in Injury Prevention, a professional research journal in 2002 concluded, “Handguns recovered in buyback programs are not the types most commonly linked to firearm homicides and suicides. Although buyback programs may increase awareness of firearm violence, limited resources for firearm injury prevention may be better spent in other ways.”

Ryan on Record

After GoLocal asked Ryan why she thought a gun buyback program would be effective, she said in a statement, “My proposal for a gun buyback program is part of a larger goal in which the City would continue its work with organizations like the Institute for Non-Violence, and the Council continuing to advocate for and support both state and federal sensible gun legislation. Some past studies have shown that gun buybacks by themselves were thought to be ineffective in directly reducing violent gun crime.”

She added, however, there has been "more recent research that shows when buybacks are coupled with a more holistic approach, it can help in the reduction of gun violence overall.”

GoLocal requested links to the research, Ryan did not respond.

Ryan is running for the State Senate this year. She is running in the Democratic primary against Sam Bell for the District 5 seat.