Sacramento police to host a gun buyback event this fall; $50 gift cards for each firearm
The Sacramento Police Department is again offering gift cards to residents who want to turn in their firearms after its gun buyback event earlier this year proved so successful that officers ran out of the incentive in less than two hours.
The next gun buyback event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 22 at the Police Department headquarters at 5770 Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento’s South Land Park neighborhood.
Officers will be handing out $50 gift cards for each functional firearm turned in, the Police Department announced in social media posts Tuesday. The guns can be turned in without any identification and no questions asked, police said.
But no ammunition is allowed at the October event. Participants must bring the guns unloaded in the trunks or cargo area of their vehicles and stay inside as officers approach to make the exchange. The officers do not want residents walking up with guns in their hands, creating a dangerous situation for everyone.
The Police Department had been looking to schedule another gun buyback after officers collected 134 firearms during the May 21 event to reduce gun violence.
Residents turned in plenty of old hunting rifles, revolvers and shotguns at the May buyback held at police headquarters. But officers also collected at least one short-barrel AR-15-style assault weapon, a MAC-10 machine pistol/submachine gun, a Tech-9 semi-automatic pistol and lower portions of kits to make privately manufactured guns, commonly known as ghost guns.
Each firearm was given to police in exchange for a $50 gas gift card. Officers ran out of gas gift cards to hand out within the first 90 minutes of what was supposed to be a 5-hour event.
Police said most of last month’s gun buyback participants said they wanted to turn in their firearms because of their lack of experience or knowledge of guns, their lack of knowledge of the legality of the firearms or their inability to safely store the guns.
The May event was the first time the department had held a gun buyback event in nearly 30 years. The event is just part of Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester’s broad strategy to turn back a rising tide of gun violence in the capital city. Officers want to get as many illegal guns off the street as they can
Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency room physician at UC Davis Medical Center and director of the university’s Violence Prevention Research Program, said he used to be a skeptic of gun buyback events, saying they had to produce significant drops in gun violence rates to prove their effectiveness.
Now, Wintermute says that’s an “unrealistic standard,” and these events can create community engagement in working together on preventing gun violence. He has said a parent turning in their guns could prevent youth suicides or school shootings, and these events are now collecting more guns resembling the weapons used in crimes.
