On Aug. 26 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Mount Zion Baptist Church, the City of Evanston and the Evanston Police Department held a gun buyback event. This event allowed people to hand over their personal guns to the Police Department and receive $100 per firearm with no questions asked. The gun buyback event has been a recurring one throughout Evanston’s recent history, with this being the eleventh year that it was held. This year, the City collected a total of 73 weapons along with multiple boxes and bags of ammunition. Not only do they hold this event in the summer, but there will also be one during the holiday season. 

“The purpose of the event is to take unwanted guns off of the street,” said Police Sergeant Chelsea Brown. “This event tries to avoid any intentional and unintentional use of guns.” 

Sergeant Brown further explained that the community police and gang units were involved in making the event safer. 

Participants in the buyback chose to come for many different reasons, but the most common impetus was that they simply needed to get rid of their guns lying around their homes. 

“I worked in the area and saw this event on the news and decided to get rid of some guns I needed to get rid of,” said one participant.

An important note is that the event is not only limited to Evanston residents. Anyone who has firearms that they need to get rid of can come and take advantage of the opportunity.

When asked if this event will continue happening in the years to come, Sergeant Brown said, “We’ll keep doing the event as long as there are needs and funds.”