Fremont Police To Hold Gun Buyback Saturday

FREMONT, CA — The Fremont Police Department is holding a Gun & Firearms Buyback Event from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday. The department is offering $100 per handgun, rifle, or shot gun, and $200 per assault weapon, ghost gun, or similarly classified firearm. Each person who attends the event is limited to a total of $600, although firearms may be turned in without compensation.

The program is funded by community donations and money could run out before the end of the scheduled buyback period.

Police ask that you follow these rules:

• Firearms should be unloaded and transported in the trunk. All participants are to remain inside their vehicles and not to manipulate firearms at the event.
• To be eligible for buyback, firearms must be operational. Non-operative firearms can be turned in without buyback.

Take the guns to the Fremont Fire Department Tactical Training Center at 7200 Stevenson Blvd.

According to the department, "Our goal for the gun buy-back program is to provide a service to our community that will raise gun violence awareness, increase firearm safety knowledge, and create a dialogue that will ultimately make our community safer through education. Those who participate in gun buyback events indicate their reasoning includes a lack of experience or knowledge of firearms and current laws involving firearms, and/or their inability to safely store their firearms."

Fremont Police provided these FAQs.

Do gun buy-back programs work?

The short answer is "it depends." Many studies and information are available online that present both, the success and/or the challenges of gun buy-back programs in reducing gun violence overall. The data shows that removing unwanted firearms or firearms that are not adequately stored reduces gun violence in the home. On a larger scale, the success of gun buy-back programs is less known because the events happen infrequently. Fremont Police Department understands gun buy-back programs are not a resolve for the increased gun violence issues that the nation and our city are facing. However, if we can remove one firearm from our community and potentially prevent a gun from being stolen and used to hurt or even kill someone in the future, then we believe the program is worthwhile.

Do gun buy-back programs prevent criminals from obtaining guns?

Data shows some gun buy-back programs have removed illegal guns from the streets. One objective of the buy-back program is to limit the firearms that are not adequately stored in a home. An estimated 500,000 guns are stolen each year from homes where firearms were not stored properly (data source: http://www.gunxgun.org/). Even if you are not participating in the gun buy-back program, we ask that you store your firearms in an adequate security system, such as a gun safe or gun locks.

Don't people turn in old and non-working guns?

To receive the compensation, we require functioning firearms. Our trained staff will inspect each weapon we receive to ensure it is operable. We will not provide payment for non-working guns. However, we will gladly assist if someone is looking to dispose of a non-functional firearm.

What happens to the guns that are turned in?

Typically, all the guns received in the buy-back program are destroyed. Most commonly, the guns are melted down, and the scrap metal is recovered. On rare occasions, some surrendered firearms could be utilized for police training and public education., such as the Community Academy.

Day of arrival instructions

Firearms must be unloaded/locked in the trunk of your vehicle. Ammunition will not be accepted at the event. Please remain in your car for the duration of the event. No walk-ups are allowed, and please follow the directions of staff. Gift cards allocated to this event are limited and subject to availability. We reserve the right to limit the amount of gift cards an individual may receive regardless of the number of firearms surrendered.