Bloomington police collected 217 weapons in a gun buyback program on Sunday.
The tally for the no-questions-asked cash event included 66 handguns, 66 rifles, 56 shotguns, 25 assault-style weapons, and four so-called ghost guns that are assembled from parts and do not have a traceable serial number.
Firearm owners who no longer wanted their weapons received $51,700 at the event held at the city fire department maintenance and training annex on Six Points Road. Because no questions were asked, it’s not possible to tell how many of the people who turned over their guns were from Bloomington, or much else about them.
“Most gun owners in the U.S. are white males. But the demographics are changing,” said Shari Strohl of the Be Smart program advocating for safe storage and handling of weapons. Be Smart focuses on reducing unintentional shootings and suicides by gun, a major portion of gun injuries and deaths in the U.S.
Strohl was at the buyback event and applauded the police department for helping reduce the number of unwanted weapons, and for its other efforts to reduce gun violence in the city and county. She said life circumstances can change and gun ownership may no longer fit.
“I had a young father who came up to us as we were tabling at the Farmers’ Market and he said, ‘I’ve got kids now and I don’t want my weapons anymore, but I’m not sure where to take them because I don’t want them to end up in the wrong hands’,” said Strohl.
Along with the cash, those who turned over weapons also received a brochure on the Be Smart program.
The event was scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sunday, but the wait to turn over firearms and receive money was long enough that the police continued the program until 4:30 p.m.
“You always treat a firearm as if it’s loaded, right? Those officers were extremely careful. They went by the safety protocols. It didn’t slow them down, but they made sure they were broken down,” said Strohl.
Officers collected guns at a rate of more than one every two minutes for the period.
Grant money for the program came from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
