By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
When the Presbyterian church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia staged a “gun buyback” event over the weekend at a local fire station, a group of Second Amendment activists organized by Chris Anders, chairman of the West Virginia Freedom Caucus and a state delegate representing the 97th District, countered with cash.
The church group was offering gift cards–$50 for handguns, $100 for rifles and shotguns, and $200 for “certain semi-automatic rifles”—but the Anders group was offering cash. Anders, speaking to TGM via telephone Monday, said his group “saved several guns; gave them good homes.”
Anders had coordinated with the owner of DS Gunworks and local volunteers. He estimated about 40 people showed up to save guns from destruction. It apparently upset someone on the church group, because local law enforcement was called.
However, according to Lootpress, it was quickly determined that what the gun group was doing was perfectly legal in West Virginia.
In a prepared statement about the event, Anders explained, “While anti-gun activists were trading property for gift cards and cutting up firearms on site, we stood right beside them and offered something better… freedom and fair value…In West Virginia, we stand with the 2nd Amendment, and gun grabbers can take their antics elsewhere.”
He told TGM that “cutting up guns is not a West Virginia thing.”
Among the firearms his associates managed to save from the cutting torch were a Colt Officers’ Target handgun, a classic Remington Nylon 77 (which differs from the Nylon 66 by the fact it holds a five-round magazine), and various other firearms including some guns he described as “new-in-box.”
He recalled a past gun buyback event where some machinists were on hand to cut up guns in public view, and one of the destroyed firearms was a Harper’s Ferry musket, which would have been a valuable museum piece.
The two-hour afternoon event got plenty of attention on social media. Anders posted the report on Facebook and it quickly was shared more than 3,000 times and drew as many comments. He got at least one apparent death threat.
Even Anders’ wife, Laura, attended and held up a sign with other activists.
This is not the first time pro-rights activists have turned out to thwart a “gun buyback” scheme. Several years ago in Seattle, when people lined up to drop off firearms at a buyback event held under Interstate 5, dozens of gun buyers lined up along the streets offering cash, rescuing valuable firearms in the process. This was years before anti-gunners, supported by now-Gov. Bob Ferguson and others, pushed through legislation mandating background checks on each gun purchase.
