Members of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said they are pleased with the community’s participation in a recent gun buyback. The event took place in San Marcos last weekend. It lasted approximately five hours.
The event was titled Guns for Gift Cards and it was marketed through social media, word of mouth and through the help of local media. All people who were in possession of unwanted firearms were invited to participate. Those who turned in rifles, shotguns and handguns were given a $50 Walmart gift card. Persons who turned in assault style weapons were given a $150 gift card. A total of 210 weapons were exchanged throughout the day. A spokesperson for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department reportedly said that all of the collected weapons will be destroyed. It is expected that another gun buyback event will take place in the future. The exact date and time of that event has not yet been announced.
Gun buyback events have grown in popularity since the Newtown Connecticut shooting. In San Francisco the event was so successful that officers ran out of money and had to start passing out IOUs. Los Angeles officers said a bazooka was turned in at an event within their county. It is unclear how many weapons have been surrendered in California within the past 12 months but experts believe it could be in the tens of thousands.
