Full Notification

On Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station, Sheriff Baca and Captain James Wolak held a press conference to launch the upcoming “Gifts for Guns” exchange event. The East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station will be hosting the event on Saturday, June 15th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Belvedere Park parking lot located at 4801 East First Street, on the corner of 1st Street and Mednik Avenue in East Los Angeles.

This program provides an opportunity for residents to safely and anonymously surrender any firearm to the Sheriff’s Department in exchange for a gift card ($200 for assault weapons, $100 for a handgun, rifle, or shotgun and $50 for a non-operational firearm) redeemable at Target or Ralphs Markets. Participants will be directed to a series of check points where the firearms will be located, inventoried, surrendered and rendered safe. A total of $35,000 dollars of gift cards will be available on Saturday’s event while supplies last. These gift cards were purchased through the Sheriff’s Department narcotics asset forfeiture funds.

The “Gifts for Guns” buyback program started in the City of Compton in 2005 and continued yearly until 2009. It has expanded to different stations throughout the years. The most recent Sheriff’s Station “Gift for Guns” event was held in Compton on January 21, 2013 and a total of 389 firearms were collected during a 6 hour operation.

“Well over 10,000 weapons have been turned in over the years through many police agencies through these gun buyback programs. We take these weapons to a steel plant annually to destroy and melt them,” said Sheriff Baca.

Prepared by:
Public Information Officer Nicole Nishida
(323) 810-1973
[email protected]
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