gun buyback
A new gun buyback program in Seattle and King County is the first since 1992 in response to a spike in homicides in the city. That year there were 60 murders in Seattle. (AP Photo/file)

Seattle, King County officials launch new gun buyback program

BY Chris Sullivan  on January 8, 2013 @ 5:24 am (Updated: 5:36 pm - 1/8/13 )

Seattle and King County are launching a new Gun Safety Initiative that includes a gun buyback program in hopes of reducing the number of firearms in the community.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and other law enforcement, health and community leaders announced the the new initiative Tuesday morning in Seattle.

McGinn says the program is modeled after other programs across the country. People will be allowed to anonymously turn in their unwanted weapons in exchange for a gift card valued at up to $100.00 for hand guns, shot guns and rifles. Assault weapons will be worth up to a $200.00 gift card. Officials say law enforcement officials will not take pictures of participants, track their license plates or run ballistic tests on the guns turned in.

"This gun buyback program can help us protect public health and safety and reduce gun violence in our communities," said McGinn.

Seattle last had a buyback program in 1992 in response to a spike in homicides in the city. That year there were 60 murders in Seattle.

The city recovered 1,200 weapons in just four days, paying out $60,000.

The buyback, however, did little to curb the violence. The number of homicides went up in 1993 and 1994.

The first new gun buyback will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2013, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, in downtown Seattle in the parking lot underneath Interstate 5 between Cherry and James Streets.

The Seattle Police Department will also partner with other law enforcement agencies in King County and community and faith based organizations to set up other gun buyback locations throughout Seattle and King County, where individuals can turn in firearms anonymously and with no questions asked.

"If we can prevent just one child, one innocent bystander, from being the victim of a random accident, or the target of an unstable person, it will be well worth our time and effort," said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

The effectiveness of such programs has been debated, but they very well might save lives, supporters said, and at worst can't do any harm.

The program was announced on the two-year anniversary of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting that killed six people and left then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured. It also came a month after a gunman in Newtown, Conn., opened fire in an elementary school, killing 20 children and six adults.

"This isn't a trick, and this isn't a sting. Whether you're turning an anti-tank missile launcher you `found' in your basement, or your Gammie's old .45, the buyback is anonymous with no questions asked," the police department said in a statement.

Amazon.com, which has been expanding its headquarters in Seattle, kicked in $30,000 in Amazon gift cards. In an emailed statement, the company said only that it thanked Seattle Mike McGinn for the invitation to participate and that it was happy to do so.

The Seattle Police Foundation donated $25,000, Seattle-based search engine optimization software company SEOmoz gave $10,000 and PEMCO insurance committed $5,000. That money will be used for gift cards from other retail or grocery stores.

By Tuesday afternoon, additional donors had come forward, with entrepreneur Nick Hanauer and his wife giving $25,000 and the University of Washington Medical Center pledging $10,000. That brought the total for the program to $108,000, the mayor's office said.

A similar gun-buyback program in Los Angeles last month netted more than 2,000 weapons, including 901 handguns and two rocket launchers.

McGinn and Constantine said the buyback program isn't designed as a panacea but as one tool to reduce gun violence. If a single shooting never materializes because of it, the effort will have been worth it, they said.

But Dave Workman, senior editor at The Gun Mag, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation, described such programs as political theater that doesn't make anyone safer.

He pointed to a 2004 study by the National Research Council. It questioned the effectiveness of such programs, saying the weapons typically turned in are those least likely to be used in criminal activities, guns are so readily available that the programs have little practical effect, and with tens of millions of handguns in circulation in the U.S., the odds any particular weapon will be used in a crime are minuscule.

"We've had a history of these gun buybacks around the country, and they really haven't done anything," Workman said.

Metz argued that getting unwanted guns out of the community is a laudable goal: It means they won't be involved in an accidental shooting or stolen and used in a crime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (97)


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  • Voodoo Child wrote...
    A well intended but misguided effort
    January 8, 2013 12:10 pm
    I sincerely hope that at least one tragic incident is avoided by holding the buy-back. My concern is that I understand that the vast majority of guns turned in at these events are NOT of the variety that are normally used in the commission of a crime. That being said, please revisit my first sentence... While I'm on my soapbox, I don't want to hear about another single gun control law until our prosecutors & judges stop releasing anti-societal monsters out of jail to kill again and again, yes, I'm using Ja'mari Jones as an example. Mental Health needs to be a top priority! If I have cancer, my cancer can't jump out & kill you, but if I'm out of my gourd I can surely get a gun easily enough on the street and kill you! We legal firearm owners are tired of IT!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    hope its a sting . . . .
    January 8, 2013 12:22 pm
    lock them all up. only kops need guns. look at how their are with them. the last one shot his butt off. waiting for the one that carries his behind his belt buckle. then he will be a she. ;-)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Gydytojas wrote...
    Gun Buybacks are a Joke
    January 8, 2013 12:31 pm
    I was in Los Angeles recently where one of these hailed gun buy back programs recently took place. For sensational news headlines it was reported that even a rocket launcher was turned in! The media failed to emphasize that this weapon was deactivated and a prop. A good friend of mine who is familair with the program mentioned that the LAPD gun buyback took in anything that came in short of an Airsoft toy gun. None of the weapon serial numbers were referenced to see if they were stolen or involved in a crime. One can go steal legally owned firearms and just sell them back at these buybacks if the authorities are so inept. All they are interested in is the PR behind these useless programs.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • uralnutjobs wrote...
    who's gift cards
    January 8, 2013 12:33 pm
    are they giving out? one guess would be one of the sponsors...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    NO one has addressed
    January 8, 2013 1:04 pm
    how buying back guns from law abiding citizens keeps these guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. Do we believe that the murderers in Connecticut, Seattle, or Colorado would have sold their guns for a gift card? Anyone? Bueller.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jstumbo wrote...
    So if I just killed someone with a gun...
    January 8, 2013 1:13 pm
    could I turn it in, and have the Police dispose of the gun for me?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HappyPappy wrote...
    Yep...
    January 8, 2013 2:19 pm
    That's about it, I can see many cold cases being filed, idiots!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Qballrail wrote...
    Publicity Stunt
    January 8, 2013 1:34 pm
    These buy-backs never make any difference. Where do they get the money? And they certainly are not paying anywhere near what they're worth. The criminals will only get more and this is nothing more than McGinn being an idiot. Guns are NOT the problem! People are the problem. Sad, so very sad.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    Where do they get the money?"
    January 8, 2013 2:21 pm
    "Read the article. The literacy rate here is appalling.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • circuitfr wrote...
    who cares about sponser money?
    January 8, 2013 8:38 pm
    It is also going to take an enormous amount of public tax payer funds. Someone has to police these events, overtime, planning. Someone has to dispose of these weapons, etc...etc... I can assure you the tax payer cost for this will be in the 10's of thousands....way to go king county.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • uralnutjobs wrote...
    smaller city has better program
    January 8, 2013 1:49 pm
    http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/010813GunBuyBack
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • AMS wrote...
    Responsibility
    January 8, 2013 2:37 pm
    Is the BATF having difficulty sourcing weapons for the Mexican Drug Cartels? I DARE law enforcement to run ballistics tests and trace the serial numbers -- how many of these are connected to unsolved crimes in our state or other states?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sghouse wrote...
    Gun buybacks are a silly waste of time
    January 8, 2013 3:08 pm
    ..but I've no problem taking advantage of liberal foolishness. There's a rusty old shotgun in my attic that I'd love to trade for a $100 giftcard.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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