Have you ever given a gun to an unpaid gun amnesty program?
In Ontario, unpaid gun amnesty programs are offered as a safe and effective way to get rid of unused guns. You transport your unwanted firearms to a location where the police will take them off your hands… then they take them to be destroyed. These programs are designed to make it easy to get rid of your unwanted firearms, but is it really the best way?
The Benefits for Gun Owners
There are times when you might have some firearms that you want to get rid of. Maybe an elderly relative left you some of their guns in their will, or maybe you don’t have time to head to the shooting range anymore. Whatever the reason, getting rid of a gun is a pain in the butt. After all, you can’t just throw it in the trash or recycle it.
Unpaid gun amnesty programs seem to offer a viable, attractive solution to this problem. You can simply take them to the police and they will take care of everything. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s… kind of a huge ripoff.
The Drawbacks for Gun Owners
The worst part of unpaid amnesty programs is right there at the beginning of the name—”unpaid.”
Firearms are expensive, valuable, and often beautiful tools. They can be heirlooms and collectibles. Many people spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for their guns, trying to find the exact right piece for their collection. Even if a particular firearm is commonly available, it’s still an expensive and useful piece of equipment.
With a gun amnesty program, you are literally throwing away hundreds to thousands of dollars, all in the name of “convenience.” Most of the firearms collected in unpaid amnesty programs were never “on the street” to begin with—usually, they were safely stored in folks’ homes, unused, but certainly not useless. New owners could have enjoyed these beautiful firearms. Instead, they are taken away and destroyed.
So, yes, you can get rid of your firearm in an afternoon, but you will lose out on the monetary value of the gun. In other words, you get fleeced by these programs.
But… what if there was a way that you could be offered the same level of convenience getting rid of your unused firearms, but actually make some money doing so? Thankfully, this is possible through GTA Guns Auctions!
How It Works
Here is what you do when you list a firearm with GTA Guns: You give us a call, safely transport your unwanted firearm to our brick-and-mortar location and… we take care of the rest.
Sound familiar? It’s almost the exact same number of steps that you would take with the unpaid firearm amnesty program. The difference here is what happens to the firearms after they’re taken off your hands. Destroying them is the last thing on our minds!
First, we put your firearms through our proprietary GUNCHECK™ or CYCLECHECK™ programs. These programs check to confirm the condition of your firearms so they can be listed with accurate information. Photos are then taken both inside and outside the guns for the auction listings. Then the items are posted to the GTA Guns auction site. Over the next few weeks, collectors can bid on them, driving up the prices. Come the day of the auction, they are sold and safely transported to the new owner.
Notice that after you drop off your firearm, there is nothing else you need to do. You don’t even need to check the auction site if you’d prefer not to. You can simply sit back and wait for the proceeds of the sale to be deposited into your bank account.
Doesn’t that sound much better than getting nothing for your valuable firearms?
Now, don’t get us wrong—we absolutely support the goals of the unpaid gun amnesty programs in Ontario. Reducing the number of firearms on the streets reduces crime and gun violence. Our issues with the programs stem from the “unpaid” and “destroyed” parts. Firearms are valuable, and destroying them is a massive waste of value and resources. Instead, why not let us auction your unwanted firearms off to those who want them? It doesn’t take you any more work AND you get a nice chunk of change at the end of it. It’s win-win!
To learn more about GTA Guns auctions, or any of our other services, please feel free to contact us!