1,173 Guns Exchanged For 50 Bucks And Couple Of Rays Tickets

TAMPA, FL -- During the first Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Gun Swap in five years, residents turned in 1,173 firearms..

Residents were encouraged to turn in unwanted firearms on Saturday, Oct. 6 at either the Falkenburg Road Jail or the Hillsborough County West Service Center Sheldon Road. In exchange, they received $50 and a voucher for two tickets to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game.

More than an hour before the scheduled start of the Gun Swap at 9 a.m., residents began lining up in their cars to drop off unwanted firearms prompting Sheriff Chad Chronister to start the gun swap an hour early. Within an hour, the sheriff's office had collected 100 guns. And residents continued pouring in throughout the day, handing over assorted handguns, shotguns and rifles.

Among the guns turned in were six guns that had been reported stolen.

Saturday's Gun Swap fell short of the last Hillsborough County Gun Swap in 2013 when the sheriff's office collected 2,541 firearms and distributed $55,000 in cash (see related story).

Chronister said the 2013 swap "still stands as one of the nation's most successful swap for cash events."

But he said he was pleased with the results of this year's swap.

"I couldn't be happier that the community took advantage of this program to dispose of their unwanted firearms," said Chronister, "But the true gratification comes from the fact in knowing that one of these guns won't be used by children to harm themselves or that a bad guy won't use one of them to commit another crime."

All of the guns collected guns will be destroyed.

Image via Hillsborough Sheriff

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