Police took over 100 guns off the street this weekend: Stockton PD

Aaron Leathley, The Stockton Record
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In just four hours this weekend, Stockton police ensured that more than 100 guns owned by residents can never be used in a crime.

How? They bought them off residents for $200 to $400 a pop.

A white police trailer waited in a parking lot near the waterfront Saturday morning as at least 30 cars — likely more — pulled up between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Officers unloaded hunting rifles, shotguns and pistols from the cars’ trunks before handing each gun owner a Visa gift card: $200 for legal guns, and $400 for illegal ones, such as sawed-off shotguns and un-serialized “ghost guns.”

Police collected 112 guns in total, officer Omer Edhah said.

The buyback is just one strategy police are using in an attempt to cut down on Stockton’s gun violence.

From January to July, the city has seen 30 homicides — the vast majority committed using firearms — and more than 1,300 aggravated assaults, according to police data.

In May, the city council set aside $225,000 to pilot the gun buyback. It’s the first time the city has used its own money for the effort: a 2013 buyback used funds donated by then-mayor Anthony Silva and by Vanco Truck & Auto Plaza, Silva told The Record at the time.

A trash can full of rifles bought back from Stockton residents during a gun buyback program on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Handguns were stored in the manila envelopes to the left.
A trash can full of rifles bought back from Stockton residents during a gun buyback program on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Handguns were stored in the manila envelopes to the left.

That event brought in 65 guns, The Record reported at the time.

Key to Saturday’s buyback was anonymity. Participants didn't have to show ID, and police didn’t note down the license plates of the cars people arrived in, an officer at the event said.

Many of the guns collected Saturday appeared to be hunting rifles — not your stereotypical crime weapon, but still liable to be used in domestic violence incidents or stolen and circulated.

Some weapons stood out: a silver derringer pistol the length of your thumb, and a rusty handgun that appeared to have been welded out of an old pipe.

“It’s Jack Sparrow’s gun,” one officer joked as he picked spider eggs out of the grip with tweezers.

All guns collected will be destroyed, department officials said.

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers public safety. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record athttps://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Police took over 100 guns off the street this weekend: Stockton PD