LAPD Hosts Gun Buyback Events In LA, Van Nuys

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Southern California residents can turn in unwanted firearms Saturday in exchange for supermarket gift cards at L.A.'s Gun Buyback event.

Members of the LAPD will be collecting guns from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at four drop-off locations across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

People can voluntarily surrender their guns, with no questions asked, in exchange for a Ralphs grocery card. Those who turn in assault weapons can receive as much as $200 in grocery credit and those handing in rifles, shotguns and handguns can get as much as $100 in credit.

Residents can drop off their guns at the following locations:

-- the Los Angeles Fire Department's Frank Hotchkin Training Academy,
1700 Stadium Way, Elysian Park;
-- Park & Ride Parking Lot, 1300 W. Pacific Coast Highway, Wilmington;
-- Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 7900 S. Western Ave.; and
-- Van Nuys Masonic Building Association, 14750 Sherman Way.

Authorities will not conduct ballistics tests on surrendered firearms and won't take photos or log license plate information of participants.

Almost 10,000 firearms have been turned in since the program was started in 2009 by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Gang Reduction and Youth Development office. The program collaborates with the LAPD, community groups, and religious organizations to put on the event.

For more information visit the Twitter page for the mayor's office.

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