Warning: Don’t try this at home.
A man from New York City claims he made $21,000 by selling more than 100 3D-printed gun parts at a gun buyback program event in Utica.
The man, who identified himself as “Kem,” told WKTV-TV, a Utica NBC affiliate, last week that he printed a bunch of 3D lower receivers (part of an AR-15 rifle) and frames for various firearms. He claimed that he came across several tweets by people talking about making 3D guns from their printers, so they could sell them at gun buyback programs and make huge profits at the taxpayers’ expense. So, he thought, why not?
Kem claimed he used a $200 3D printer gifted to him on Christmas to print the gun parts and then drove to Utica for over six hours.
The New York State Attorney General’s office held a gun buyback event at the Utica Police Department in August, which Kim attended.
Upon arrival, Kem says that one of the event’s staff members saw the bag he had carried the parts in and asked him how many guns he had in the bag, and he replied that he had 110.
Kem said he spent the better part of the day negotiating with the staff over how much money was appropriate to pay him for his 110 fake lower receivers.
Finally, two people, a man, and a woman appeared from the budget office, presented him with 42 gift cards, and counted them in front of Kem to verify them. The gift cards were all worth $500 each, which came to a total of $21,000.
In a statement issued by Attorney General Letitia James’ office, they announced that people had turned in 296 guns at the event. They said the gun buyback program was a huge success and an effective way to reduce crime and protect residents from the rising crime rate in the state.
Kem, however, laughed at the Attorney General office’s insinuation that the program successfully reduced crime. He made fun of the office, saying that it was irresponsible of them to give him $21,000 for fake guns without verifying them, adding that the program indicated that the state’s gun buyback policies do not work.
The faker said that the only thing the program achieved was that it created a demand for 3D printers, with numerous people showing up at the events with plastic guns. According to him, the gun buyback program did little to reduce the crime rate in the state.
The New York Police Department reported a decrease of 24% in gun shootings in June compared to last year.
The spokesperson for the Letitia James’ office said it was shameful for anyone to take advantage of the gun buyback program, whose main goal was to take guns off the streets and reduce gun violence.
The statement went on to say that the Attorney General’s office had partnered with local law enforcement in the entire state of New York and recovered more than 3,500 guns, and that the selfish and greedy behavior of one individual would not stop their efforts to promote public safety.
The New York Attorney General’s office has adjusted its gun buyback policies to avoid further program exploitations.
It’s amazing that the staff at the event didn’t inspect the “guns” in the bag. Might not be a good idea to use the gift cards.