Gun Buy-Back Program

 

GUN BUY-BACK PROGRAM

 

JANUARY 15, 2013 

JANUARY 21, 2013

11 AM – 8 PM at various locations listed below

 

Residents of Marin can be compensated for the surrender of firearms on January 15, 2013 and January 21, 2013.

Residents of San Francisco, Contra Costa and Sonoma Counties may also participate.

 

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting tragedy, District Attorney Ed Berberian’s office has organized a community-based program to do something more than just comment on the horror of the incident.  As the DA noted:  "Sometimes we need to come together, taking one small step that empowers the average individual with the ability to do something.  I personally believe we are a society with too many guns simply sitting in garages, closets, drawers and who knows where else.  Our community has seen these weapons appear in our neighborhoods and streets.  Let’s take a step to reduce the total number of these weapons.  Let’s have a day where we go to our local police agencies across the county and turn in these guns." 

 

I agree whole-heartedly with the DA and I urge all of my constituents who have firearms in their possession to surrender them during this program. Now is the time to make our communities safer by removing weapons that can easily fall into the wrong hands or be misused accidentally. I join my colleagues in strongly endorsing this program, along with all of Marin's police departments, the Marin County Sheriff, Marin County's Superintendent of Schools, local mayors and city/town council members and California's Attorney General.  This is a "no questions asked" approach with the emphasis on reducing the number of readily accessible firearms in our community.

 

January 15, 2013, was selected as the primary date to mark our commitment to curbing the violence that has plagued our streets and invaded our schools.  This is an opportunity for individual members of our community to take a positive step that demonstrates our commitment to non-violence.  January 15 is the day our nation honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the act of surrendering firearms is consistent with Dr. King’s teachings. I hope that this is a galvanizing force for broad-based community action to reduce violence. 

 

Individuals surrendering operable semi-automatic handguns and/or semi-automatic long guns will receive $200 for each firearm.  Any individual surrendering any other category of an operable firearm will receive $100 for each firearm.  This is a "no questions asked" program, however documentation showing the person surrendering the firearm is a resident of Marin, San Francisco, Contra Costa or Sonoma County will be required strictly for verification purposes only and no police investigative report will be opened or generated. 

 

The five firearm surrender locations on January 15^th will be: 

 

1)  Novato: the Novato Police Department, 909 Machin Avenue;
2)  San Rafael: the San Rafael Police Department, 1400 Fifth Avenue;
3)  Larkspur: Central Marin Police Authority, 250 Doherty Drive;
4)  Marin City:  St. Andrew's Church, 101 Donahue; and
5)  Pt. Reyes: the Pt. Reyes Substation of the Marin County Sheriff's Office, 101 Fourth Street 

 

The hours of operation will be from 11:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M.  No ammunition should be in any of these firearms when they are brought to the surrender locations.

 

A second surrender date has been scheduled for January 21, 2013, at the Mill Valley Police Department, 1 Hamilton Drive, Mill Valley, and the San Rafael Police Department.  Again the hours of operation will be from 11:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. 

 

I am particularly grateful to Pastor Veronica Goines and the Congregation of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Marin City for hosting this on the 15^th, the Mill Valley City Council and MV Police Chief Angel Bernal for offering to host this on the 21^st and to and all of the community leaders throughout Southern Marin and the County for their efforts. All funding for the program has been generated locally.  The County Board of Supervisors has committed $10,000, the Marin Community Foundation from two of its administered trusts have contributed an additional $20,000, and individuals from the greater community have contributed an additional $10,000 to support this effort.

 

  At one level, this is all about guns – access to guns and the ever-increasing firepower of guns. It is also about our values.

  Gail Collins, in a recent column in the New York Times, had this to say: “America needs to tackle gun violence because we need to redefine who     
   we are. We have come to regard ourselves – and the world has come to regard us – as a country that’s so gun happy that the right to traffic   
   freely in the most obscene quantities of weapons is regarded as far more precious than an American’s right to health care or a good education.
   We have to make ourselves better.”

 

   It is time to take action, to make ourselves better by taking better care of each other. But we cannot stop there.  I urge our Board to support  
   legislation that bans assault weapons and multi-bullet clips. I also hope that we will commit to support enhanced mental health training and  
   wrap-around services for troubled youth and their families.  And more specifically, I believe we should find the means to fund more resource
   officers for the Sheriff’s Department to staff our local schools.

 

For further information, please contact my office or: 

District Attorney Ed Berberian

eberberian@marincounty.org

(415) 747-2241