Nashville’s metro police department held a “Gift Cards for Guns” event Saturday at a church. People brought in unwanted firearms for a $25 Dollar General gift card. The department collected 91 guns in the first such gun buyback event held in the South Nashville district, reports The Tennessean. Maurice Whittie was typical of residents who handed over an unwanted gun. “I think it's good,” he said. “They're taking guns off the streets and out of the hands of kids and damn fools.”
Most of the weapons turned in were handguns, but there were a few surprises. In addition to a sawed-off shotgun (illegal to possess), a woman handed amused officers a pistol tucked away in a hollowed-out 1986 phone book. Police Chief Steve Anderson said many people might have unneeded guns lying around but not be comfortable selling them. “Every gun you take off the streets, you don't know the consequences that you've prevented — the gun falling in the wrong hands, being used to harm someone accidentally or by being used in a crime,” he said.