A gun buyback event in Rockville, Maryland, on Saturday is offering incentives to get guns off the street: Gift cards of up to $200.
“The first thing that people think about probably is violence in the community and crimes. But, we also are interested in removing some of these weapons because of increasing mental health issues that we are facing in the community,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told WTOP.
The event will take place at RedGate Park at 14500 Avery Road in Rockville from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. It is hosted by the Rockville City Police Department along with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and Montgomery County Public Schools.
The program is offering $100 Visa gift cards for functioning handguns, rifles and shotguns and $200 for functioning assault-style weapons and ghost guns.
McCarthy said all firearms will be accepted with no questions asked and no identification needed. Those dropping off guns during the buyback must stay in their vehicle and firearms must be unloaded and transported in the trunk and must be functional.
“Our hope is basically to reduce the number of guns and rifles that are on the street in Montgomery County,” McCarthy said.
When the buyback event began last year in Montgomery County, around 300 guns were collected. McCarthy said the event was so popular they had to move it to a bigger location at RedGate Park in Rockville to avoid traffic jams.
Rockville City Police Chief Victor Brito said that “it’s important for us to be proactive, to show our community we’re doing everything and using every tool that we have. Many firearms are stolen from people’s homes and used in crimes, but, we also want to keep them out of the hands of children and stop the use of them in domestic violence situations.”
He added, “We want to ensure that firearms that are unwanted do not get in the wrong hands, and someone is hurt or killed.”
