COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police officers collected a total of 344 firearms at a gun buyback event held Saturday in the parking lot of the Trinity Baptist Church, located at 461 St. Clair Avenue.
Columbus Division of Police Assistant Chief Greg Bodker said this event was another effort to reduce gun violence in the city.
"Each one of those cars is at least one gun that is coming off the street,” Bodker said.
Bodker said the event is designed to incentivize the community to get rid of unwanted firearms from their home.
“That's one less gun that will be in the hands of a criminal and potentially be used to hurt someone else in our city,” Bodker said.
Gift cards of up to $750 were given in exchange for handguns, assault rifles, non-assault rifles and shotguns based on the type and condition of the firearm.
"We have kind of an assembly line that they're being put into a secure property room and then they'll ultimately be destroyed,” Bodker said.
According to the Columbus Department of Public Safety, about $136,000 in gift cards were handed out in exchange for 201 handguns, 75 shotguns, and 68 rifles. That money was collected from the city’s general fund and Columbus police.
"Folks here today have heard the call, we need to get guns off the street so they aren't used against kids, seniors or our officers,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said.
All submissions remain completely anonymous and no IDs were required to turn a firearm in, but Mayor Ginther said the guns will first be tracked before being destroyed.
"We look around at what has happened already this year, some of that violence is senseless. One less gun means one less person hopefully that gets injured by a gun in our city,” Bodker said.
If you have a firearm you’d like to get rid of, but missed Saturday’s event, Bodker suggests contacting the Columbus police non-emergency number at (614) 645-4545 to connect with a dispatcher who can walk you through how to safely do so.