Columbus police offering gift cards for guns at buyback event — while supplies last

Columbus police are hoping that a gun buyback event Saturday will help reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands, and they won't ask identities of those who turn in firearms. 

U.S. Bank debit gift cards worth $25 each will be given as gifts to the first 200 people who turn in firearms at the event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Columbus Fire Training Academy, located at 3639 Parsons Ave. on the city's South Side.

Sgt. James Fuqua said the city Division of Police is working with the office of outgoing City Council member Mitchell Brown, a former city public safety director from 2000 to 2014, to provide the gift cards. 

Columbus police gun buyback: What you need to know

Only semi-automatic pistols, revolvers and long guns, such as shotguns and rifles, will be accepted. BB guns, starter pistols, swords, knives or other types of non-firearm weapons will not be accepted. 

Fuqua said those turning firearms in for the buyback will not need to provide identification or proof of ownership at the time they surrender the firearm. 

"This is akin to our gun lock giveaway program," Fuqua explained. "The whole goal is to increase safety and decrease the potential for a gun to be misused and result in a tragedy." 

It is preferred that the firearm be functional and operational, however, no one will be turned away for having a firearm that is not functional, Fuqua said. 

The firearms that are turned in will be run through a law enforcement database. Fuqua said if the firearm comes back with information tying it to a crime, further investigation will be done by city police detectives. Firearms will ultimately be destroyed once it is determined there is no connection to criminal activity. 

Buyback events in other cities have been touted as a means of lowering crime rates by reducing access to unwanted or unused guns that could be used, as well as to reduce the chance they could mistakenly end up in the hands of a child with potentially tragic consequences.

On May 15, Canton police, the Stark County Prosecutor's office and several other community agencies sponsored a gun buyback that offered $100 gift cards. Organizers decided to start the event early because of the line of vehicles outside the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

A total of 129 unwanted guns were collected and were to be destroyed.  A spokeswoman for the Stark County Prosecutor's office said the event "likely won't be the last one we hold."

Gun buybacks have been held in other cities across the United States this year as well, including Pensacola, Florida, and in New Rochelle, New York. At the latter event, one of more than a dozen that have been sponsored this year by the New York Attorney General's office, 57 guns were collected in exchange for prepaid debit cards and iPads, depending on the weapon exchanged. Two iPads were given to those who turned in assault rifles.  

Gun buyback not designed to reduce violent crime

Although Columbus continues to be on pace for 2021 to be the most violent and deadly year in its history, Fuqua said city police are not focused on lowering crime with their buyback event.  

"We are not naïve to the fact that criminals are not likely the ones who will respond to this effort," Fuqua said. "Unwanted or improperly secured firearms have the potential to end up in the hands of someone who isn’t qualified or trained, won’t handle it safely or will use it to harm another person. Every one of these guns removed from the street is potentially a life saved."

The event is being organized by the police division's Rapid Response Emergency and Addiction Crisis Team (RREACT). Columbus police will have precinct officers in the area to make sure all local and state laws are followed, as well as to monitor traffic in the area. 

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner