Santa Clara County will hold multiple gun buyback events annually in an effort to take firearms out of the hands of residents who no longer want them.
The county Board of Supervisors gave approval Tuesday, May 2, for the Sheriff's Office and district attorney to host a minimum of two events each year in an effort to increase the numbers of guns turned in.
A buyback event in the city of Milpitas in 2022 yielded over 400 guns.
The move by the board will also bolster an existing gun relinquishment program that allows residents to surrender a gun at any time at a Sheriff's Office station by offering $50 gift cards as an incentive. The program has received over 500 guns over the last five years, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The proposal approved Tuesday was co-authored by Supervisors Cindy Chavez and Otto Lee.
"We want to make it easier for the people of Santa Clara County to relinquish unwanted guns with regularly scheduled and well publicized gun buy backs," Chavez said.
Buybacks allow people to relinquish working firearms to law enforcement, without questions asked, in exchange for a cash sum. Past Santa Clara County events offered $100 for an operable gun and $200 for a ghost gun or assault weapon, with a limit of five per person.
The events typically cost between $75,000 to $100,000 to fund county staff and law enforcement overtime and the cash incentives. The events will be funded through asset seizures from law enforcement.
A county report recommended against considering the events as a way to reduce crime, citing research showing that such buybacks are not effective in reducing gun violence. But the report said the effectiveness of reducing crime can be enhanced by pairing the events with other outreach efforts.
Comments
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on May 3, 2023 at 10:58 pm
Registered user
on May 3, 2023 at 10:58 pm
Hello. These two buckets of gun butts look like 1950 22 rifles. Looks pathetic. Last year 35 guns stolen from a high end mid town resident home (because they “forgot to lock a garage”). Where are the Glocks, semi auto mastics, hand guns that mostly kill our babies. There are more guns in the USA than citizens reside here . A “buy” back yes. Yes where is the cultural shift. Guns kill, people w guns kill. Amazon and such sell deadly weapons from a click. Our love affair w guns and violence is but a result of a massive Military Industrial Complex at 8.5 billion yearly dollars. And that on books dollars .War is not the answer. Yet it appears the solution. unless guns are the the prayer of free reign terror,
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 4, 2023 at 12:19 pm
Registered user
on May 4, 2023 at 12:19 pm
It's a small start. Hard work still has to be done. We need serious gun legislation that controls the weapons people most frequently use to kill people, especially children. There need to be regulations on storage and serious repercussions for people who fail to properly control and lock the weapons and ammunition they own, leading to theft and accidents that could have been averted by proper personal control.
Freedom does not mean you get to do whatever you want. The Founding Fathers were clear on this. Rule of Law matters...and can and should evolve in response to societal change. Ubiquitous availability of automatic, high powered and other kinds of guns is clearly a problem that the law must address.