After a months-long push, for the first time this weekend, the city of West Memphis, Arkansas, will hold a gun buy-back program.
The program will give $50 for an unwanted, functional gun, and those weapons will later be destroyed.
West Memphis leaders pushed for this gun buy-back program, in large part after a boy here accidentally shot himself in August.
Those who live here tell Local 24 it’s a win-win, putting money in people’s pockets, cutting down the number of unused guns, and potentially saving lives.
“It’s a chain reaction, once you get it off the streets permanently, it’s like a domino effect,” says Dekeitrick Richmond.
Richmond is a lifelong West Memphian and father of two children. To him, Saturday’s first gun buy-back program in this community is a no-brainer.
“You can never go wrong with money, I’ll tell you that much, and you can also save lives at the same time,” says Richmond.
Saturday morning at Second Saint John Missionary Baptist Church, anyone who lives in West Memphis can exchange a functional, unloaded, unwanted gun… whether it’s a rifle, pistol, or shotgun… for $50.
“The purpose behind them is to completely get these guns out of the community at no risk of them being back on the street,” says West Memphis Police Capt. Joe Baker.
West Memphis leaders pushed even harder for the gun buy-back program in recent weeks. This after authorities said a three-year-old boy found a unattended, loaded gun and accidentally shot himself in August, sending him to the hospital.
Police said the buy-back isn’t intended to take away guns from responsible owners, and will not be a secret checkpoint for participants.
“We aren’t asking them for any of their identifying information, not going to be doing any warrant checks, no checks whatsoever,” says Capt. Baker.
The first West Memphis gun buy-back program will take place Saturday morning from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Second Saint John’s Missionary Baptist Church on Ingram Boulevard.
You have to show proof you are currently live in West Memphis in order to take part in the gun buy-back. They’ll also give out free gun safety locks.
