Santa Barbara police collected nearly 240 guns Saturday in exchange for Vons gift cards and cash. [KEYT]
The police department held the city’s first gun buyback program in conjunction with The Coalition Against Gun Violence. Event organizers planned to exchange grocery store gift cards in exchange for unwanted guns, but they ran out of Vons cards and had to resort to offering cash to conclude the event.
Police said they plan to send the guns to Los Angeles for destruction.
Attendees of the buyback included Congresswoman Lois Capps and state senator Hannah Beth Jackson. Both Capps and Jackson are backing new gun control legislation following last month’s Isla Vista rampage left six students dead, three by way of shootings and three by stabbings.
Capps said neighborhoods are much safer because of Saturday’s buyback.
“I want to salute the Coalition Against Gun Violence,” Capps said.
Officials said they planned the buyback event months prior to the Isla Vista rampage.
