SPEAK OUT: LA Gun Buyback Draws Strong Response; Should Gwinnett Do the Same?

There were a lot of long lines in Los Angeles on the day after Christmas, but not all of them were at shopping malls.

The nation's second-largest city held its annual gun buyback event, moving it up from Mother's Day in response to the recent Sandy Hook Elementary shooting tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

And the yield was strong. The Los Angeles Times reported that the event, which was held at the historic Coliseum and in Van Nuys, surpassed the 1,673 guns collected in 2011.

The incentive was gift cards to Ralphs, a prominent Southern California supermarket chain that is owned by Kroger.

The city gave gift cards worth up to $100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and up to $200 for assault weapons.

In one case, organizers pulled 22 pistols from the trunk of a Honda, a haul that earned the driver $1,000.

And memories of Sandy Hook were strong with those in the crowd in Los Angeles.

"That young guy shot up all the kids and they blamed the mama because the mama had the weapons in the house," Valerie Butler told The Times, explaining why she waited in line for two hours to get rid of an old handgun.

Yet Butler said she was not getting rid of both of her guns.

"Just one," she said. "There's a bunch of nuts out here, and they're coming in when you're sleeping. You got to protect yourself."

-- So now we ask, should Gwinnett County and/or the state of Georgia hold a similar gun buyback event to remove weapons from public use? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

See also:

• SPEAK OUT: Georgia Schools Chief Backs NRA Proposal on Armed Officers at Schools

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