Brandon Herrera, a firearm social media personality with more than 3 million subscribers on YouTube, visited San Antonio's first-ever gun buyback event last Sunday. He offered a more generous offer for those looking to dispose of their firearms: cash instead of the city's gift cards to supermarket chain H-E-B.
The city offered people $300 for semi-automatic rifles, $200 for handguns, $150 for a rifle or shotgun, and $50 for a malfunctioning or homemade gun. However, the gift cards were limited only to groceries at H-E-B.
Herrera published a video on his YouTube page that showed him and friends holding signs that read, "Licensed Gun Dealer ... $$$ CASH $$$ ... 4 Guns."
He purchased a number of pistols, rifles, and shotguns - a sign folks wanted cash instead of gift cards.
Then Herrera was booted from the property by police for buying the guns that were supposed to be turned into the city.
And others were doing the same.
The city handed out $175,000 in gift cards last Sunday. There was no word on how many folks traded guns for cash.
Studies have shown gun buybacks are ineffective. Only law-abiding citizens are handing over their guns - not criminals.
Perhaps Herrera and others have found a new way to purchase cheap guns - show up at gun buybacks hosted by cities and states and offer cash.