Police department exchanges 202 guns for grocery gift cards
Recap of ‘Groceries For Guns’ event by the San Luis Obispo Police Department
– On Saturday, the San Luis Obispo Police Department held a gun buyback program, “Groceries for Guns.” Community members were invited to voluntarily turn in unwanted guns in exchange for local grocery store gift cards.
A total of 202 guns were received during the event: 101 rifles/shotguns, 6 assault-style rifles, and 95 handguns. $11,900 in grocery gift cards was distributed.
“In speaking with many of those who brought in unwanted weapons, most had mentioned they had been ‘laying around’ and wanted to responsibly dispose of them,” said Chief Rick Scott. “This was the exact purpose of the program, to give our community members a resource to dispose of unwanted firearms. We know the people that turned these guns in are not the kind of people who would use a weapon to harm another, but they are most likely to not effectively store or take care of these weapons as they need to be to keep them from falling into the hands of someone who will use it in a crime.”
The SLOPD is able to receive unwanted guns at any time. The public can contact the property office at (805) 781-7360 to make an appointment.
