Proof Gun Buybacks Don’t Work

According to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), a Chicago woman is suing the city after being shot with a firearm that should have been destroyed following a police “gun turn-in” event. Instead, the Glock 21 – a .45 caliber pistol – vanished from Chicago Police Department custody in December 2023 and later turned up in multiple shootings, including the one that injured plaintiff Twanda Willingham. The irony, as NRA-ILA points out, is that the gun ended up back on the streets due to an event designed to remove firearms from circulation.

From Police Custody to Criminal Hands

As detailed by NRA-ILA, after being collected at a turn-in event, the Glock was transferred to a tactical team office. Somewhere in that process, it disappeared. Investigators later discovered that the inventory tag for the Glock had been deliberately hidden on another firearm, while the correct tag was found in the trash – a sign of what appeared to be a purposeful theft and cover-up. When the gun resurfaced, it had been used in at least two other shootings before being recovered from a 16-year-old.

Colion Noir’s Take: A “Clown Show” in Action

Gun rights commentator Colion Noir, who had previously covered the missing Glock story, called the incident “a clown show” and “a redistribution service for criminals.” In his view, the buyback program was billed as a life-saving initiative but instead facilitated a shooting by putting a working firearm into the hands of someone who would use it illegally. Noir emphasized that the problem wasn’t just incompetence – it was a direct failure of the very public safety argument used to justify buybacks in the first place.

A Troubling Pattern in Chicago

This wasn’t an isolated case. NRA-ILA reports that another firearm from a previous Chicago turn-in program was later found next to the body of a man killed in a police-involved shooting. Both incidents show that the city’s claim – “all guns are destroyed and never returned to the streets” – is not always true.

The Accountability Problem

The investigation into the missing Glock revealed another troubling detail: the police sergeant in charge of securing the gun at the event was suspended for just one day for “failure to adequately secure and care for department property.” NRA-ILA highlighted that no one was charged for any of the three shootings involving the Glock, underscoring a lack of accountability within the system meant to enforce gun laws.

Noir: Gun Control Laws Hit the Wrong Targets

Noir argued that buyback programs don’t disarm criminals – they disarm law-abiding citizens who voluntarily turn in firearms. In this case, he speculated that the Glock likely came from someone who was not involved in criminal activity. Had the gun stayed with its original owner, he suggested, it might never have been used in a crime. Instead, it was taken in under the promise of destruction and wound up creating the very violence it was supposed to prevent.

The Broader Failure of Buybacks

For over three decades, researchers across the political spectrum have found that gun buybacks have no measurable impact on violent crime. NRA-ILA noted that some studies even suggest they can be counterproductive. In Chicago’s case, the failure was extreme: a firearm didn’t just slip through the cracks – it appears to have been stolen from within the police department.

Politicians Go Silent

Noir pointed out the silence from the “common-sense gun law” advocates who usually dominate the conversation after high-profile shootings. When a gun control program itself causes harm, he said, the politicians who championed it often disappear from the discussion. To him, this is hypocrisy – those in power ask for public trust, then mismanage that trust in ways that endanger the very people they claim to protect.

A Program That Undermines Its Own Purpose

This story is more than just an embarrassing mishap for Chicago – it’s a case study in why some public safety programs fail. A gun buyback relies entirely on the integrity of the people handling the surrendered firearms. If that chain breaks, even once, the program not only fails but can actively harm the public. When a gun from a turn-in event is used in a shooting, it doesn’t just call the program into question – it shatters the entire premise.

No Substitute for Real Enforcement

The NRA-ILA is right to say that programs like this can become distractions from real public safety measures. Collecting guns from citizens who are not committing crimes is easy political theater; rooting out the systemic issues – like theft from within law enforcement – is harder, but far more necessary. Until those core problems are addressed, buybacks risk becoming what Noir calls “a redistribution service for criminals.”

Lessons for Other Cities

If Chicago’s buyback program can’t guarantee that surrendered firearms are secured and destroyed, other cities should take note before running similar initiatives. Without airtight handling procedures, these programs are vulnerable to insider theft, sloppy recordkeeping, and the kind of cover-up alleged in Willingham’s lawsuit. The consequences aren’t abstract – they can be measured in lives lost or permanently changed.

The Bottom Line

In a city already struggling with violent crime, Chicago’s gun turn-in program managed to arm a criminal instead of disarming one. As both NRA-ILA and Colion Noir have documented, the problem wasn’t a loophole or a technicality – it was the total collapse of the program’s stated mission. If a buyback can’t keep a gun off the streets for even a few months, the public has every reason to question whether such programs are worth the risk.