During the program, residents can trade in any firearms that they do not want for Visa gift cards worth various amounts of money depending on the type of gun.
The buyback is completely anonymous and voluntary, city officials said. However, guns that are found to have been stolen will be given to their original owners after going through an evidentiary process.
If the Houston Police Department finds a firearm is connected to a crime, it will be tagged and investigated. Although they will not know who they got it from due to the anonymous process, the gun itself will serve as evidence. All other guns will be disposed of by the department.
HPD is asking participants to unload guns and place them in their vehicles. When someone arrives at the buyback, officers will open the vehicle and take the gun.
After a firearm instructor renders the gun safe, the participant will be provided with a gift card. Cards of $50 will be given for non-functioning guns, $100 for rifles and shotguns, $150 for handguns and $200 for automatic rifles, Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said at a press conference.
Participants can turn in more than one gun as well as any amount of ammunition. However, ammunition cannot be traded for gift cards.
Ellis said the program gives gun owners two incentives to turn in their firearms.
“One is the gift card, and the other is creating a safer community,” he said.
The point of the program is to take unwanted guns and stop guns from getting encircled in illegal trade or getting in the hands of criminals, curious children and teenagers, officials said. Similar programs have yielded results in Los Angeles, Syracuse, and Tampa.
During a July 21 meeting of the city's Public Safety and Homeland Security committee, Assistant Chief Milton Martin said this program is one piece of a much larger effort to address Houston’s violence problem.
The gun buyback effort is a $1 million program within Mayor Sylvester Turner’s $53 million One Safe Houston initiative. Other elements include hiring more police officers, collaborating with other law enforcement partners, and funding the justice system to get rid of the backlog of cases caused by Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19.
”From where we were in January and February to where we are today, the homicide rate of the city of Houston is flat in comparison to last year,” Turner said. “In other crime categories the numbers are down. So we are seeing positive results, but it takes a holistic approach. Don’t view the gun buyback program as just this one element alone. Please consider it as a part of [One Safe Houston].”
Sofia Gonzalez contributed to this report.
