311 guns turned in during buy back event at Admiral Kidd Park, police say
The event, which was took place Saturday, allowed people to turn in their unwanted firearms in exchange for a gift cards.
A total of 311 guns, including dozens of rifles and shotguns, were turned over to the Long Beach Police Department Saturday during a buy back event at Admiral Kidd Park, authorities announced Tuesday.
The event, which was hosted by the Long Beach Police Department and sponsored Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hanh’s office, allowed people to exchange their weapons for gift cards on a voluntary and anonymous basis. People were given gift cards ranging from $50 to $300, depending on the weapon’s functionality and type.
Long Beach police said that gift cards were valued as follows: $50 for non-functioning firearms; $100 for working pistols, rifles and shotguns; $200 for ghost guns (guns with no serial numbers) and $300 for assault rifles.
The event Saturday brought in a total of 100 pistols, two ghost guns, 90 rifles (18 of which were assault rifles), 50 shotguns, 48 zip guns and 21 non-functioning firearms, police said.
A similar buy back event in late June 2024 brought in 190 firearms. To date, 2,388 firearms have been taken off the street in buy back events throughout her district, according to Supervisor Hahn.
Long Beach police say reducing the availability and accessibility of firearms serve as a way to make the community and city safer.
According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, having access to a firearm inside a household doubles the risk of homicide and triples the odds of someone killing themselves.
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