Hayward police doled out $50 a pop for operable firearms at a gun exchange event held on Saturday at the South Hayward BART station.

“I’ve been overseeing this program for the past 20 years, and easily 95 to 100 percent of the participants are law-abiding citizens who want to get rid of guns in their homes,” said Rick Blanton, Hayward Police Department’s crime prevention specialist.

Good citizens like Sandy and Michelle Kelly drove down from San Francisco specifically for this event.

“My daughter had a son and they were living in San Francisco. He was growing up and she didn’t want the gun in the house, so she gave it to me,” said Sandy Kelly.

“We wanted to do the right thing,” added his wife, Michelle.

“I figured this was a good time to get rid of it,” Kelly said.

The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) listed this type of buy-back program as a proven strategy to lessen the number of handguns in the community, thereby reducing gun-assisted crime and accidental shootings.

“We had a lady who brought hers in, and she said that her husband was walking around with it and discharged it into their floor, so she wants it out of the house,” said Hayward Police Lieutenant Sheryl Boykins.

“So those are the kinds of accidents we want to prevent, as much as we want to prevent those guns from falling into the wrong hands,” Lt. Boykins said.

Gun exchanges similar to this are held in communities across the nation to provide responsible
people with a safe means by which to rid their personal premises of unwanted firearms.

Some offer groceries, some offer gift cards, but the ultimate goal is to destroy these weapons before they can injure or kill someone by accidental means, or wind up in the possession of criminals through home burglaries.

“There is no viable way to accurately measure the number of crimes that are prevented, or accidental injuries or deaths that could occur,” said Blanton.

An intensive online search and several calls to New York’s famous John Jay College of Criminal Justice confirmed Blanton’s statement.

The parking lot was fairly full, and people were instructed to keep the weapons in their cars until such time as they were called.

One car’s occupants at a time were summoned to the canopy to make the exchange.

The event started at 10 a.m., and by 10:45 a.m. 120 firearms had been collected, most of which were long barreled guns.

“But we also have a Tec-9, we have an assault rifle, we have an array of handguns and two illegal modified shotguns. These are the types that we want to get,” said Lt. Boykins.

One concerned citizen, who declined to give his name, was not there to turn in a gun.

“I just came out to watch what Hayward P.D. was doing out here, and some of us who follow firearms laws are kind of curious about the nitty-gritty details of how they’re complying with certain parts of California state law,” he said.

He made allusions to the ten-day waiting period and the transfer of firearms.

“There’s a concern about firearms that may have been stolen, and whether or not they’re eventually going to be united with the rightful owner,” he added.

A chat with the property clerk assured him that all serial numbers would be checked for reports of theft, or use in prior crimes.

His primary reason for being there, however, was to pass out fliers about California’s complex firearm laws.

In a nearby car sat a widow, who also declined to give her name, waiting to turn in five guns that had belonged to her deceased husband.

“I’ve been trying to get rid of these guns for five years, but every time I hear about one of these buy-backs, it’s already happened.

This is the first time I heard about it in advance,” she said, just as the officer called her number.

The city allotted $10,000 to buy unwanted guns, and parted with every penny of it.

Some of the officers combined resources to pony up an additional $150 to bring the take for the day up to 203 fewer operable firearms in the community.

It makes one ask though, if a person truly wanted to be rid of an unwanted gun, is a buy-back really necessary to provide incentive?

Would it occur to anyone to simply call the police to come out and remove it from the premises?

“But if we could pay $10,000 for the one gun that might kill someone…well, what is that worth?” Blanton queried.