Effectiveness and Controversy of Gun Buybacks: The Recent New Mexico Experience

There are 1.2 guns for every person in the United States, with the total number of firearms in circulation estimated to be over 393 million (Small Arms Survey). Gun violence is the
leading cause of death among young men ages 15 to 19, and firearms are involved in 51 percent of completed suicides and 73 percent of all homicides. Alamogordo, New Mexico has seen a spike in violence and murders among youth and young adults in 2023. The increase in crime year over year in Alamogordo, New Mexico is 70%. That is a micro spike in comparison to the spike in crimes throughout the state and in rural communities throughout the U.S. in recent years.

The link between the supply of firearms and gun violence has been the subject of intense debate,
both among policymakers and in the economics of crime literature.

In an effort to limit the supply of firearms in circulation, a number of U.S. cities have implemented gun buyback programs (GBPs). GBPs use public funds to purchase civilians’ privately-owned firearms. The first GBP was launched in Baltimore, Maryland in 1974, when the city paid anyone who turned in a firearm to a local police station $50 ($259 in 2019 dollars), after which the gun was destroyed. There were no questions asked of those who turned in their guns and no limits were placed on the type of firearm that could be submitted to authorities.

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