Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner sets Feb. 18 as date for city's gun buyback event

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner designated Feb. 18 at Alexander Deussen Park as the date and location for the city’s third gun buyback event, an annual event for residents to anonymously trade in guns they no longer want in exchange for gift cards.

“The success of the two events demonstrated that people do want a safe space to dispose of their guns. We remove guns that were unwanted and had the potential of falling into the wrong hands,” Turner said.

From 8 a.m.-noon, residents can trade their guns at Deussen Park, located at 12303 Sonnier St., Houston.

The mayor, alongside leaders with the city of Houston, including Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, made the announcement during a Feb.6 press conference in front of the "Stop Gun Violence" mural at Worthing High School in Sunnyside, Houston.

Since the first gun buyback event, Ellis said the city has collected more than 2,000 guns.

The gun buyback program is part of the One Safe Houston initiative Turner launched in February 2022.

“When you look at the numbers, if you all can recall last year about this time, people were saying Houston was the murder capital of the world. ... But at this point in time, we have fewer homicides now than we had last year, and again, if the trend continues, we will continue to see those numbers go down,” Turner said. “I want to attribute that to all of the components that were put to One Safe Houston and gun buyback initiatives."

Gift cards will range from $50-$200 depending on the type of gun law enforcement receives, and the guns will be disposed by local authorities, Turner said. He also restated no ghost guns, which are unserialized or untraceable firearms that can be bought online or assembled at home, or 3D-printed versions of guns will be accepted.