On Saturday morning, many people lined up for hours. This was in order to take part in a ‘no questions asked’ gun buyback program in Third Ward, Houston.
In an effort to decrease crime, the initiative was organized as part of the city’s One Safe Houston program.
Overall, 845 guns were taken back. Then, $100,000 in gift cards were given in return.
“After Uvalde, Mayor Turner and I both decided we needed to have at least one gun buyback before our children go back to school”.
David Gibson, is a proponent of the 2nd amendment and doesn’t want his guns to wind up with the wrong person.
“I don’t use them. I don’t want them, and I don’t want anybody breaking into my garage and stealing them and have them go to bad use,” Gibson expressed.
“They drive down the street behind our house and just, ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ into the air. It’s ridiculous,” Gibson added.
The mayor and law enforcement officials received criticism and backlash regarding the effectiveness of the initiative.
“I heard it all. ‘Oh, it’s going to be junk guns, this and that.’ You don’t have solutions to problems, please just sit down and let us step up, the people who are going to do the work,” the police chief said.
“We’ve taken in ghost guns. We’ve taken in rifles. Automatics have been taken in, and so the program is working.”
The Houston Police Department wasn’t expecting such a great turnout and shut the line down after three hours.
When the next buyback occurs, they have vowed to add additional resources.
