Nearly 1,000 handguns, rifles and shotguns arrived at the Omega Center banquet hall in St. Louis on Saturday, toted by owners taking advantage of the police department’s one-day gun buyback program, reports the city’s Post-Dispatch. “I didn’t have no use for it,” said Leroy Cole, 58, of Jennings, who was handed $50 cash in exchange for the shotgun from his upstairs bedroom.
Police paid $50 for handguns, rifles and shotguns and $100 for assault-style weapons. People were able to hand over their guns anonymously with no questions asked. The limit was five guns a person. Police collected 997 guns, 10 of which were assault rifles. Police paid $48,000 for weapons and spent about $3,300 for advertising. The department dedicated $57,000 in seized drug money for the event; the leftover money will return to the department’s forfeiture fund. In 2007, police had 247 handguns, 161 shotguns, 127 rifles and a machine gun turned in at the buyback.
Link: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/10317DA30FD1283286