Man swindles buyback program out of $21,000 with 110 3D-printed guns

A man known as "Kem" on Twitter has gone online to detail his recent exploits with 3D printed weapons.

Kem used a $200 3D printer he got for Christmas to create "a bunch of lower receivers and frames for different kinds of firearms," intending to sell them to the state of New York through one of its gun buyback programs. A buyback event was held at the Utica Police Department in August by the New York State Attorney General's Office, so Kem set to work and then drove six hours to reach Utica and begin haggling over costs with staff from the Attorney General's Office.

Kem stated that the interaction "ended with the guy and a lady from the budget office finally coming around with the 42 gift cards and counting them in front of me," amounting to $21,000 in the form of $500 gift cards. While the Attorney General's Office maintains the Utica gun buyback event was a success, Kem was less convinced, saying, "I'm sure handing over $21,000 in gift cards to some punk kid after getting a bunch of plastic junk was a rousing success."

The Attorney General's Office has since updated its guidelines to consider 3D-printed firearms, which did not have an associated cost, unlike non-working and antique guns, which were bought back for $25, or untraceable ghost guns (those without serial numbers) for $100. At the next buyback event in Camillus on September 17th, homemade guns could fetch $25, and 3D-printed guns "capable of safely firing multiple rounds without reloading" could get up to $150.

The between $250 and $350 one could get for ghost guns now explicitly excludes homemade and 3D-printed firearms. Notably, no cap remains on the number of weapons anyone can turn in.