Rockville to hold 5th annual gun buyback event this weekend

All right, big buyback coming up this weekend. If you have a firearm that you no longer want, Rockville, Maryland, gearing up for its fifth annual gun buyback event this weekend. And to share more on how the program works, Rockville City's Deputy Police Chief Barry Dufek and Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy. Good to see both of you this morning. Five years going strong. First of all, how popular is this typically? How many guns are you able to collect? We're generally taking hundreds. Every time we do this, we're in the hundreds for sure. And they range the gamut from pistols to assault rifles. So everywhere in between, even sometimes we get ghosts that are, we typically refer to them as ghost guns or they're un-serialized. And we'll take those as well because anything that fires, we want them off the street. And is it mostly ones that just people know they have and don't want anymore? Is it ones that people find? Like where are the guns typically coming from? They're inheriting them. A lot of them are inheriting and they're laying around. They don't know what to do with them. And I don't want to be naive to the fact that we think that violent criminals are dropping all these guns off. But really it's important that we're dealing with it regularly around the region and around the country that these guns are ending up in toddlers' hands or maybe even a little bit older. Yeah, and John, I know that's one of the things that you want to hit on as well. Yeah, this is part of an overall strategy for reducing gun violence in the community. But I also tell you, I think a lot of people understand that there's self-harm issues here, too. So we're trying to get guns out of communities where people might do self-harm. And we very tragically had a case in this past year where a five-year-old child got access to a gun. So, again, this is sort of also a warning to people. If you have a handgun in the house, get rid of it or secure it properly because we lost a gun. A little five-year-old toddler this last year with a gun that was not properly secured in his home. Yeah, as far as the details, what do folks need to know about where they go, who's eligible, and what's in it for them if they turn a gun in? Yeah, sure. It's Red Gate Park this Saturday from 9 to 1. There will be a long line. There always is. So come early and and get in line and be ready. You know, we don't ask any questions. It's completely anonymous We don't ask you for your ID and you do get gift cards up to you know, hundreds of dollars back depending on the weapon Yeah, and that was my question was is no questions asked really no questions No questions asked, but gun has to be unloaded when you bring it But it has to be a functioning handgun and there are different different values of the gift cards Depending upon the type of weapon you turn in Okay, good to know, and like you said, it helps out a lot of people. You say you typically have a line, so I guess you look at that as a win for the community, right? If you're getting that many guns off the street. Yeah, it's absolutely a win. Anytime. And the other thing I want to make sure is even if you're not interested in getting rid of a gun, we do provide gun locks. So if this is not of any interest to you, getting rid of a weapon, that we can help continue to keep these safe and keep them out of the children's hands. Now, if somebody's watching and they say, listen, I know of a few guns that we can turn in, we can get rid of, but we don't live in Rockville, can they still come? Absolutely. This is a regional thing. Look, we've had this partnership for a number of years. This thing has really run efficiently. There may be a line, but I'll tell you, you'll move quickly. You're not going to be there all day. These guys do a great job. But we are open to the region. So if you're not a Rockville resident and you want to come and get rid of some guns, get them off the streets, come on. We'd be happy to accept them. All right, you don't need to register in advance anything. You said it's anonymous, so you just show up and drop them off, right? Just show up, have them unloaded, keep them in your trunk. And that's as simple as it is. And the last thing I do want to say for sure is, you know, our partnership with the state's attorney's office, as well as our city, our mayor and our city council, has been phenomenal. We have great support for this program. I know the mayor will be there. John, last time we talked to you, you were working on a number of initiatives in the county. One of them was making sure that the young people out there get their own messages across. You had a video competition. Are we still accepting entries at this point? So November 20th, we have our Speak Up, Save a Life contest. Again, we've been doing this for multiple years. We've actually seen a decline in deaths among young people, particularly from opiates. So this is where kids put these PSAs together. And there's cash prizes up to $5,000 for number one. We give away over $10,000 in cash prizes. You can get PSA hours. Deadline is November 20th if you'd like to enter. All kids, high school. Junior high school, public, private, you're all welcome to join. And we get hundreds every year, but it's a wonderful effort, and kids are teaching kids about the dangers of street drugs. Such an important part. All right, there you go. We covered that angle, and the gun buyback, again, is this Saturday. So if you know of some or you have some guns you want to get rid of, you can get some gift cards for it. It's a great program. Get some off the street as well. Thanks, guys, for coming. Thanks for having us. Good to see you. Thank you.