Hartford Hospital Helps Host the 8th Annual Gun Buyback Event
December 20, 2016
*Update (December 20, 2016) The event helped collect 24 firearms including 7 revolvers, 8 pistols, 7 rifles, 2 shotguns and 1 replica pellet/BB gun.
For the eighth year, Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center are collaborating with the city of Hartford, the Hartford Police Department, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office, Community Renewal Team (CRT) and the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association to help get guns off the streets.
The Community Gun Buyback Program will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, December 17 at the Community Renewal Team, 555 Windsor Street, Hartford. At a press conference about the event held Friday, December 16, D’Andrea Joseph, MD, FACS, Associate Medical Director, Trauma Surgery and Medical Director of Adult Injury Prevention, Hartford Hospitalsaid, “We need to remove unwanted guns from the home and decrease the chances of guns being stolen.”
Over the last three years alone, Connecticut residents turned in 400 firearms during this no-questions-asked initiative.
The Gun Buyback Program provides Stop & Shop gift cards to individuals who turn in an operable firearm. A $200 gift card will be offered for an assault rifle; a $100 gift card for a handgun or revolver; and a $25 gift card for a shotgun or rifle. Guns must be unloaded and placed in a clear plastic bag inside a paper bag or box. Guns may be returned anonymously. All guns received are destroyed unless forensic testing confirms they have been used in the commission of a crime.
Non-working guns, black-powder weapons, BB guns, flare guns, and ammunition can also be turned in; however, they are not eligible for a gift card.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearm homicide decreased 2.8 percent in 2014, a trend the organizations involved with the Community Gun Buyback Program hope will continue. However, 33,599 people died from firearm injuries in the United States in 2014, the two major causes being suicide (63.5%) and homicide (32.6%).
Pictured: D’Andrea Joseph, MD, FACS, Associate Medical Director, Trauma Surgery and Medical Director of Adult Injury Prevention, Hartford Hospital, speaks to the press about the Gun Buyback Program.