SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 27, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City police have announced the number of guns taken in Saturday as part of the department’s gun buy-back program.
“In total, community members turned in 30 firearms, including four pistols, 10 revolvers, six shotguns, and 10 rifles, three of which were assault-style,” the SLCPD statement says.
Those turning in guns were offered a gift certificate.
This was the second gun buy-back event held by the SLCPD in more than two decades. The first was last June, and took in 103 guns, including 38 rifles, 28 revolvers, 24 pistols and 13 shotguns, according to a news release issued at the time.
The firearms collected Saturday will either be donated to the Salt Lake City Police Mutual Aid Association’s Museum or the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Crime Lab, or will be destroyed, the police statement issued Monday says.
“The no questions asked, no-ID required gun buy-back program raised awareness to the number of guns in our community and gave community members the opportunity to relinquish any firearms or ammunition they no longer wanted,” the news release says.
Officers also provided gun locks to community members in an effort to promote safe gun handling and storage. Intermountain Health donated the locks to the SLCPD.
“Gun violence remains one of the most important issues we need to address in our community,” SLCPD Chief Mike Brown said in the released statement.
“By reducing the number of firearms — especially guns no longer wanted — we are reducing the chances of those guns being stolen and later used in the commission of a crime.”
Future gun buy-back events will be considered based on resource and funding availability.
