House Bill 3053 would ban cities from rewarding those who turn in their guns. In November 2024, the City of San Antonio received and destroyed 1,500 firearms.
SAN ANTONIO — Gun buyback programs are one signature away from being banned in Texas.
House Bill 3053 is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after navigating the Legislature. Some cities and counties, including San Antonio, have held events that reward people in exchange for turning their guns in.
But this bill would put a stop to it.
Republican State Rep. Wes Virdell, of Kerrville, gave two reasons for why he wrote the bill. He argues the programs constitute a waste of local tax dollars and bear little impact on crime.
Not everyone agrees, including one longtime Alamo City leader.
“We brought 1,500 weapons out of circulation in the City of San Antonio and every one of them was destroyed,” said John Courage, District 9 City Council representative.
Courage hosted the city’s second annual gun buyback program at the Alamodome in November, where people who turned their guns in received an H-E-B gift card.
He says these programs make a difference.
“Those weapons will never be used in the crime, will never harm anybody,” he said. “How can we say that that doesn’t have value in our community?”
Democratic State Sen. Jose Menendez shared similar thoughts.
“If a city and its residents want to have a gun buyback program, they should be able to host one, just like if a city chooses to have a gun show or host a NRA convention,” Menendez said. “We don’t seem to get away when it comes to that.”
In a statement, Virdell told KENS 5 that while he does believe local government oversees its constituents best, sometimes it abuses taxpayer money—at which point, he continued, the state government needs to intervene.
He went on to note that guns can still be sold to stores or dropped off at police stations.
If passed, Courage says, the ban will limit how the city can promote public safety.
“More weapons are going to get exposed to other people in the public who may have other reasons for using them other than their own safety. The fewer guns we have in our our community that people don’t want, the better off we are,” said Courage.
Abbott has until June 22 to sign or veto the bill. If he does neither, the bill will automatically become law and go into effect Sept. 1.