Questions rise with gun buyback programs: Do the guns get completely destroyed?
(CBS DETROIT) - New questions about what really happens to guns turned in at local buyback events. One Southfield church fears the guns aren't being completely destroyed.
Chris Yaw is the reverend at St David's Episcopal Church in Southfield. In a TikTok, he reacts to the publication of a New York Times investigation that claims third-party companies' contract with law enforcement agencies to only dispose of the part of the gun that lists the *serial number.. opening up a market for the remaining parts.
"Michigan State Police, like a lot of municipalities, want to save money," Yaw told CBS News Detroit.
St. David's Episcopal Church just saw 224 guns returned as part of a buyback on Dec. 9. He and others who dropped off guns are feeling misled.
"That has created a niche market for companies like GunBusters. There are a lot of other ones, and what GunBusters does is, say we have two tiers of service. One is that you can pay us and we will totally pulverize the gun. The second is we will come get the guns for free and even transport them for free, but we are only going to pulverize certain parts of that gun, and we're going to put the rest for sale to the public," Yaw said.
GunBusters in Missouri is the name of the organization Michigan State Police is contracted with.
CBS News Detroit reached out to MSP, asking about these allegations and how the department ensures the entire gun gets destroyed. They issued the following statement:
"The Michigan State Police is committed to upholding Michigan's recently updated gun violence prevention laws and to getting illegal guns off the streets so they cannot be used in a commission of a crime. All firearms surrendered to the MSP are turned over to GunBusters to be destroyed in accordance with the ATF's acceptable destruction procedures that require the destruction of the frame or receiver so the firearm can no longer be used. We receive video proof of this occurring for every firearm. The MSP is among 950 agencies from across the country that utilize GunBusters' services."
As for what's next, Yaw says he and other county leaders are looking to coordinate a meeting with MSP in hopes of finding a way to re-negotiate a deal with GunBusters that would destroy the entire gun.