Unloading their guns
Houston’s second buyback collects 1,208 firearms, up 50% from debut
Turnout at Houston’s second gun buyback event increased about 50 percent, with 1,208 firearms collected from 300 cars during the Saturday event, even as the city added a stipulation to prohibit 3D and privately manufactured weapons.
The city expected to collect about 200 guns during its first event in July, but it collected 845 and distributed nearly $100,000 in gift cards in return. Officials added staff, created multiple collection lines and took other steps to expedite the process because about 150 people weren’t able to turn their guns in during the initial event.
“We pretty much started planning this event right after we concluded the first one,” said Crystal Okorafor, deputy inspector general at the mayor’s office. “We wanted to make sure that they didn’t have to wait a long time in order to do the next event.”
Ester Thomas, 65, missed the first gun buyback event in July, so she and her husband arrived at 7:30 a.m. to join a line already forming at the Metro Westchase Park and Ride in west Houston.
“It’s a good thing that this is happening because they’re taking a lot of guns off the street
and out of people’s homes who don’t need them,” Thomas said.
She was ready to turn in her grandfather’s two shotguns and one revolver that were damaged when her house flooded during Hurricane Harvey.
“He loved to hunt. He turned them over to my mother, and then she gave them to me,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t using the weapons anymore, and didn’t want to leave them around the house for someone to take advantage of them.”
Ernest Evanicky, a Cypress resident, came to the event to turn in two rifles and one handgun that were over 25 years old.
He recalled an attempted robbery at his residence almost 10 years ago and wondered what would have happened if they would have stolen his firearms.
“I was thinking that Cypress is a safe area, but crime can happen anywhere. It doesn’t matter,” Evanicky said. “I would rather turn them in than to have someone break in and take them,” he said.
A concern this time around was that 3D-printed and privately manufactured firearms were turned in at the previous event.
“We did make the distinction this time that we will not accept any privately manufactured firearms,” said Wyatt Martin, assistant chief with the Houston Police Department. “We were getting 3D-printed guns and guns made out of materials that the person had around the house.”
No one brought any 3Dprinted firearms to the event, and no one was turned away, officials said.
“The initial program did have the ghost guns, but that proved to be something that was not tenable. I’m very proud of the way they handled this,” said U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston.
The event did have a 25-gun limit, which one person exceeded. The first 25 guns were accepted, and the rest were sent to a different area for processing.
“We did have one vehicle that was bringing more than 25 guns, and we put them in a different process,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “But other than that, we haven’t turned anyone away. We took the first 25, but after that HPD will take it from there.”
The processing of the collected weapons takes time, so there is a 90-day period before they can be destroyed. In the meantime, they will be stored by HPD.
“It provides them an opportunity to dispose of firearms that they no longer want in a way that ensures they will never end up in the wrong hands,” Martin said.
The event stressed anonymity with the attendees who turned in their firearms, so no identification was taken at the event.
“We emphasize with the program that there are ‘no questions asked’ because we want people to bring the guns in understanding that this is not an opportunity to be clever and arrest anyone,” said Green. “This is truly a gun buyback program, not a means by which we are going to find a reason to arrest people.”
As the event drew to a close, there was still a line of vehicles outside of the property that received vouchers to be first in line for the next one.
“We don’t want anybody to think we are just taking guns; this is an opportunity for people to relinquish guns and in the process help us save lives,” said Green.
Tallies released Saturday showed 368 revolvers, 279 semiautomatic handguns, 243 shotguns, 227 rifles and 91 semi-automatic rifles collected.