A bill banning local governments from buying back guns on the taxpayer dime is making substantial progress in the Texas State legislature.
On May 13, 2025, the Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 3053, a measure that prohibits counties and cities from spending taxpayer money on gun buyback programs.
The bill was introduced by freshman Republican legislator Wesley Virdell. It was passed with a decisive 85-56 vote after heated debate. On May 26, the State Senate passed HB 3053 by a vote of 20-11.
State Sen. Bob Hall, said to elected officials during an earlier discussion on May 26 it was a “necessary guardrail against misuse of local authority.”
Gun buyback programs are initiatives where local governments offer cash or gift cards to citizens who voluntarily turn in firearms. The stated goal of these measures is to reduce the number of guns in circulation, thereby lowering the risk of gun violence, accidents, and suicides, at least on paper.
Politicians have implemented these programs in cities across the United States for decades, often in response to spikes in gun crime or high-profile shootings.
However, the effectiveness of these programs is hotly debated. Multiple studies have found that the guns turned in are rarely those most likely to be used in crimes—often old, inoperable, or unwanted firearms. The scale of most buybacks is also too small to make a notable dent in the overall number of guns in circulation. As a result, critics argue that buybacks are more symbolic than substantive, offering little impact on public safety.
Virdell, alluded to the case of Baltimore, Maryland, where the city held a gun buyback program that “when adjusted for inflation, they spent the equivalent of today’s money of $4.3 million. Though Virdell noted that the result was troubling: “homicides and firearm-related assaults rose by over 50 percent following the Baltimore ‘buyback.’”
“[B]ased on the studies and some of the people who’ve actually participated in these gun ‘buybacks’ … huge costs of money from the taxpayers, and it doesn’t actually have any statistical evidence that it reduces crime or suicides… in some cases, crime actually increased in those areas afterwards,” added Virdell.
Democratic lawmakers, led by Representatives Gene Wu and Trey Martinez-Fischer, pushed back against the bill. They argued that local governments should have the freedom to try different approaches to gun violence, including buybacks, if their communities support them.
While acknowledging that buybacks may not dramatically reduce crime, they pointed to other benefits—such as providing a safe way for people to dispose of unwanted firearms and raising awareness about gun safety.
For opponents, HB 3053 is part of a broader trend in Texas politics of the state government preempting local authority, particularly in urban areas that lean Democratic. In recent years, the Texas legislature has passed laws limiting cities’ ability to regulate issues ranging from minimum wage policies to environmental standards.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez emphasized that while state lawmakers oversee state funds, they don’t control city budgets.
“No disrespect, but how dare you come to me and tell me what the City of San Antonio should do with their tax dollars?” Gutierrez, who represents parts of San Antonio, said.
With the Senate’s passage of HB 3053, the bill now heads to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law, making Texas one of the few states to explicitly ban taxpayer-funded gun buyback programs.
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About José Niño
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. You can contact him via Facebook and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
