“Guy buybacks will never reduce violent crime”, said gun-hater Wintemute

Wintemute is one of those gun-haters the media loves to site, this is an old story but the quote is very revealing:

““They never will reduce rates of violent crime, but that may have been the wrong parameter to look at.” As part of a larger discussion about public safety, Wintemute says, buybacks may play an important role in mobilizing a community to examine gun control”
Source: http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-cities-rethink-gun-buyback-programs.html

Exactly, gun buybacks help the media keep people scared. Scared people are likely to demand gun control. The writer below argues gun buybacks actually help criminals get rid of stolen and other guns used in crimes:

“What you usually see in any gun buyback program is elderly people turning in old junk guns from some closet or garage where they have sat gathering dust for many years. But sometimes the buyback haul includes stolen guns that might connect the person turning them in with murders or other gun violence that some overworked detective is trying to solve. And because the gun buyback is conducted anonymously with “no questions asked,” the chain of evidence and its links to these unsolved crimes are cut off. These cases are bound for the cold case file.”
Source: http://www.policemag.com/blog/gangs/story/2013/12/the-fallacy-of-gun-buyback-programs.aspx

Makes perfect sense, you can wipe the fingerprints of a gun, but if you sell it at the buyback, it will get new fingerprints.