Handgun buyback set
 for June 8 at city church

5/31/2013

Toledo will pay $50 per firearm during a handgun buyback program at a central-city church next week, officials announced Thursday.

The program, which is a partnership between the city and several community groups, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 8, at People’s Missionary Baptist Church, 1101 Heston St.

Payment will be offered for up to two operable, but unloaded, handguns per person.

Officials also will accept, but not pay for, unwanted ammunition, shotguns, rifles, BB and pellet guns, starter pistols, and visibly inoperable firearms, all of which will be destroyed.

Money for the buyback will come from the Toledo Police Department’s law-enforcement trust fund. The event also will feature gun safety information, the Bell administration said.

Councilman Joe McNamara, a mayoral candidate, called last month for a gun buyback program before learning Mayor Mike Bell already planned one. Mr. McNamara said the city spent $25,000 in 2003 on a buyback program.