Montco Police Departments Offering Grocery Gift Cards For Surrendered Guns
By Brad Segall
WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (CBS) -- In eastern Montgomery County tomorrow, three police departments are joining together with a local supermarket chain and a grassroots community group in an effort to take guns off the streets.
From 9am until 1pm at New Bethel AME Church in Willow Grove, the Abington, Upper Dublin, and Upper Moreland police departments will trade unwanted guns for supermarket gift cards in a buyback program.
They'll pay $75 for handguns and rifles, and $125 for assault weapons.
"This will be no-questions-asked," says Abington police officer Roger Gillispie. "No ID is going to be required or asked for, all guns are going to be turned in anonymously. We're asking anyone who brings a gun in to make sure the gun is unloaded."
The concern is that guns that are just lying around a house could be stolen and used in the commission of a crime, or kids could get their hands on guns when parents think they're safely hidden away.
This is the first time these departments have taken part in a buyback program. They're hoping to get at least 50 guns off the streets.
