The Gainesville Police Department is holding the Gun Buy Back event to reduce gun violence

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – The Gainesville Police Department held a gun buyback event today to help keep the community safe.

Some officials said buying guns from local residents was a way to get unwanted guns off the streets and hopefully reduce future crimes.

Some people waited hours to drop off their weapons at Mount Moriah Baptist Church.

As an incentive for residents, GPD offered Visa gift cards: $ 100 for revolvers, $ 200 for semi-automatic pistols, $ 300 for rifles or shotguns.

“Of course, there is anonymity here, so we don’t log names, we don’t track, or anyone does,” said Graham Glover, the public information officer for the Gainesville Police Department.

The officers removed the guns from each car, recorded them, and placed them in a secure vault.

Glover said he thinks the number of people that have shown up reflects how much the community cares.

“The very feedback we got for this event reflects, in my opinion, a community saying, ‘Hey, how can we address the gun violence issue we are seeing in our community,'” said Glover.

To make this possible, the GPD teamed up with the prosecution and granted a limited amnesty to those who surrender their weapons.

“We don’t care where the gun came from or that you know about it right now,” said Darry Lloyd, chief investigator with the prosecutor’s 8th Judicial District.

Lloyd said a limited amnesty will allow more guns to be taken off the streets regardless of where they came from.

“We can now give you a chance to safely hand in the guns so we can have them and know where they are,” Lloyd said.

He said face-to-face meetings in the community through Crime Watch are another way to combat gun violence in the community.

“This one event isn’t going to solve gun violence, but it’s one of many ways that GPD and the community, the prosecution, tell what we can do to make Gainesville a safer place,” said Glover.

Glover said the GPD will hold more of these events in the future.

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The post The Gainesville Police Department is holding the Gun Buy Back event to reduce gun violence first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

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