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Hi Jim,
I have to support you in your view of Gun ‘Buy-back’ schemes. When the law changed over here in the UK in 1996 and the private ownership of handguns was made illegal the government put in place a scheme where all handguns were to be handed into police stations and the owners were given what the government called ‘fair recompense’. This took no account of the market value of the firearms handed in and most were overvalued. So what happened was that many people were spending their time buying cheep handguns and immediately going to a police station handing in the weapons just purchased and making a profit. I heard of several people who made over £10,000 (GBP) in profit doing this. So why not take advantage of schemes like this and if you have, or can get hold of, any cheap weapons hand them make a profit, and put the money to a better use.
Allied to the illegality of many weapons in the UK, semi-automatic rifles (made illegal in 1987) and handguns (from 1996), crimes committed in which firearms have played a part have increased by over 1000%. Making firearms illegal only removes them from the hands of the law abiding people not the criminals, especially as breaking the law tends to be part of the job description of a criminal. (If you are going to break one law why not break another especially if it will help you get away with it.) Also, illegal firearms are ridiculously easy to acquire, and relatively cheap, in the large cities in the UK if you have the contacts. Regards, – Ross

JWR Replies: I would only recommend taking advantage of schemes like these, under the following circumstances: 1.) You can “donate” guns anonymously (no record of sellers name), 2.) You sell only junker guns with no practical value, 3.) You receive cash rather than amusement park or movie coupons, and 4.) You immediately invest the cash generated into practical/tactical guns, ammunition, and accessories. That would warm my heart!

Dear Jim,
The current thread on fighting in a post-disaster environment makes me recall just before Y2K, when set up at various gun shows.
I told another dealer I had enough ammo, and he half-jokingly said, “You can’t have enough.”
I believe my quote was, “After I shoot the first forty, the rest will move on or call for artillery, depending on who they are” An invading army won’t be scared of your rifle. And a roving gang will want easy pickings.
Had things come to a disaster, my wife and I were resident managers of an industrial facility. I figured to block the drives with cinder blocks or cars, pretend the site was empty, and stand by with a shotgun and carbine at the door. If the crowd moved along the road, I’d ignore them. Only if they sought to enter our attached apartment would I have fired. My guess was that someone on guard (We’re both vets) with weapons, armor and helmet would deter most, since it would be obviously an attack on a defended position for little gain.
And yet, there actually was one attendee who insisted his survival plan was guns and ammo and “Just take what I need from those who didn’t prepare.” I gently suggested that with food, a running water supply, medical gear, sundries and hard cover, I was prepared to hold him off until he ran out of ammo or food and had to retreat. He apparently hadn’t considered that having a gun wouldn’t make him Lord of All He Surveyed.
The goal in surviving, as Heinlein noted in his excellent young adult novel “Tunnel in the Sky” is to stay alive. Not conquer (conquest is how many of these disasters start), not crusade. Just survive.
I’m fortunate enough to have the skills, money and time to have built several hi-tech small arms. But I also keep shotguns and old bolt [action] guns around–they’re easier to fix in the garage with good scrap steel, and robust. While I want a crank-fired, belt-fed Browning 1919A4, at 400 rounds per minute and 30+ pounds plus tripod, it hardly makes sense as a “survival” weapon. It may be a “rebellion” weapon, but it’s still of limited use in all but a few circumstances. It’s an indulgent toy. At the same show, a gentleman was selling what may have been the ultimate survival rifle–a pre-1899 Mosin-Nagant and a case of 7.62 x 54R ammo for $150, cash and carry. I should have grabbed some spares. – Michael Z. Williamson