Gift cards trump weapons

Police host gun buyback event

Ex-con Cecil Butler drove up to a church parking lot Sunday with his late uncle’s rifle in the trunk.

He drove off with $75 in Target gift cards after turning over the rifle to police.

It’s not every day you get to bring your gun to church, no questions asked.

It was all part of a gun buyback event hosted by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on Sunday at Mt. Olivet Seventh-Day Adventist Church, in the heart of the city’s Sistrunk neighborhood near Interstate 95 and Sunrise Boulevard.

The Police Department used radio and social media to spread the word.

People showed up through- out the day to trade their unloaded guns for Target gift cards ranging from $25 to $75 depending on the type of gun and its condition.

Small pistols were worth a $25 gift card; handguns and semi-automatic pistols got you a $50 gift card; and shotguns and rifles netted a $75 gift card.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has taken in an estimated 400 guns since it launched its gun buyback program five years ago, Capt. Steven Scelfo said. On Sunday, they took in another 40.

“People are always concerned about gun violence, so our plan was to try to get some of them off the street,” he said. “It’s hard to say the impact it has on the crime rate. But if we get one gun off the streets that’s not used in a crime, that’s a win for us.”

Since the program started, the agency has given out