Money For Guns: Annual Worcester-Area Buyback On Saturday

WORCESTER, MA — An annual UMass Memorial gun buyback event returns this month with a new name: Guns to Gardens.

During the Dec. 10 event, local residents can exchange firearms for gift cards in different increments. UMass Memorial has been hosting the event since 2001, but over the summer began partnering with the group Guns to Gardens, which turns old guns into garden tools.

Worcester Medical Director and UMass trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Hirsh first brought the event to Worcester in 2001, and more than 3,714 guns have been turned in since. Hirsh's aim is to reduce gun violence and accidents across the area.

Hirsh initially founded the program as Goods for Guns in Pittsburgh in the 1990s. The program honors John Chase Wood II, Hirsh's friend and medical school colleague, who was shot and killed outside Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan in 1981.

During the event, gun owners can earn $50 for turning in a rifle, $100 for a pistol and $150 for any semiautomatic weapon. Gift cards will not be given for either nonworking guns or ammunition. The buyback is open to any local resident — no questions asked.

Guns can be exchanged at one of eight local police stations, plus City Welding, which crushes the weapons and donates the metal to local blacksmithing students. There will also be free gun locks available at dropoff locations.

Here are the times and locations on Dec. 10 when you can trade in a gun:

• Athol police, 280 Exchange St. — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Auburn police, 416 Oxford St. — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Dudley police, 71 West Main St. — 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Fitchburg police, 20 Elm St. — 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Leominster police, 29 Church St. — 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Northborough police, 211 Main St. — 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Spencer police, 9 Main St. — 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Worcester police, 9-11 Lincoln Square — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• City Welding, 10 Ararat St., Worcester — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.