Los Angeles collects most guns ever, in post-Newtown buyback event
Police collected more than 2,000 firearms Wednesday in Los Angeles, during a gun buyback event held less than two weeks after the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn. Do such city initiatives help reduce gun violence?
A police officer tosses a modified gun into a trash bin at a gun buyback held by the Los Angeles Police Department on December 26, following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
David McNew/Reuters
The city of Los Angeles, one of several municipalities to hold a gun buyback event since the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newton, Conn., collected more than 2,000 firearms – a record, police officials reported Thursday.
Los Angeles had moved up the date of its no-questions-asked gun turn-in with the hope that the Newtown tragedy would prompt residents to surrender some firearms, thereby reducing the number of guns in circulation. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city would gave $100 to $200 gift cards in exchange for each gun recovered.
At a press conference Thursday, police officials said they collected 2,037 firearms, surpassing the 1,673 guns collected last year.
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