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Minneapolis handed out $25,000 worth of Visa gift cards in return for more than 150 guns handed in to authorities Saturday, the Star Tribune reports, before running out of gift cards and halting the feel-good operation.
One unnamed gun owner told WCCO that he’d gotten $200 for a firearm he turned in, which he planned to spend on another gun. Meanwhile, local gun collector Paul Joat reportedly bought two firearms from people en route to the “buyback,” apparently by offering a better price for them than the $15 to $300 Visa cards the city was offering.
“A lot of what I’m seeing is gun nuts turning in their guns for more than they’re worth,” Joat told the Star Tribune. Indeed, one person reportedly turned in a “shotgun” bodged together from scrap wood and pipe and walked off with $100. Meanwhile, Councilman Cam Gordon called the stunt “a great way to get guns off the street.”
