HOUSTON – A gun buyback event took place in Houston on Saturday.
This is a part of mayor Sylvester Turner’s One Safe Houston initiative.
People could attend from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. at NRG Park’s Yellow Lot.
See below to take a look at the news conference of the event.
Officials’ goal is to get guns off the streets to prevent violent crimes. People were able to return their guns without having to get out of their cars and could be completely anonymous during the process.
Police said this year they took in 1,446 guns.
Those turning in guns received gift cards from $50-200. The gift card depended on what type of gun was returned.
This is the fourth gun buyback event in the Houston-area.
The Houston Police Department said the other two events took in 2,045 guns.
Officers also said violent crime is down by 14%. They hope this holistic approach will help crime continue to go down.
“The whole purpose really is to get guns off the street when people no longer need them or want them, or somebody has passed away and they don’t know what to do with them. That way it alleviates the worry of somebody breaking into their house and stealing a firearm, when in reality they didn’t know what to do with them,” Houston Police Assistant Chief Patricia Cantu said.
HPD said you could not return privately manufactured guns or ghost guns. There was a 25 gun return limit per person.