First published in the Dec. 17 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
A gun buy-back event held by the Burbank Police Department last weekend resulted in the recovery of 58 weapons, prompting BPD’s leader to give “high marks” to the community as well as his agency.
The Dec. 10 drive-thru event in the rear parking lot at BPD and Burbank Fire Department headquarters offered city residents an opportunity to relinquish their unwanted guns without having to show any identification and with “no questions asked” in exchange for gift cards. The goal was to reduce the availability of unwanted firearms in the community through safe, anonymous disposal of guns,
Participants received a $100 pre-paid gift card to Walmart for each handgun, rifle or shotgun, and a $200 gift card for each assault weapon, as classified in California.
“It was a seamless event,” said Police Chief Michael Albanese, who gave a report on the event to the Burbank City Council on Tuesday.
“High marks for our department and high marks for the community for paying attention,” he added.
Compared with Los Angeles’ recent buy-back that yielded 450 firearms, Burbank’s event resulted in a higher per capita return of firearms, according to Albanese.
“If you do the math as far as city sizes, the return exceeded our expectations,” he said.
Albanese commented on how, due to safety concerns, the department was unable to collect unwanted ammunition during the event. But he added, “We will assist anyone who wants to dispose of ammunition. They can reach out to [BPD], we will coordinate a time when they can offload it and we will dispose of the ammunition.”
The event yielded 29 handguns, 17 rifles, 11 shotguns and one assault weapon.
All weapons were checked to determine if they had been reported as lost or stolen and needed to be returned to their legal owners; all others were to be destroyed in compliance with state law. None of the firearms purchased by the city during the event were identified as stolen, according to Albanese.
The buy-back follows a string of gun safety precautions by the city in recent months.
In August, the City Council voted to extend a moratorium on new firearms retailers in Burbank until July 2023. The decision was intended to prevent the establishment of new gun stores while the city investigates further zoning regulations on the retailers.
The city mandated the original 45-day moratorium on July 26, after community members raised concerns over the new Gun World store’s proximity to Roosevelt Elementary School. Many of the 14 firearms retailers in Burbank are located near sensitive-use sites, such as religious centers and schools.
Since the August meeting, city officials began a full review of a model gun control ordinance written by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Burbank could draft new common-sense gun laws based on this model ordinance. One of the recommendations from staff during the meeting was a gun buy-back program.
Future measures could include gun-education programs and strict measures against ghost guns — firearms that lack serial numbers or those that have been assembled illegally.
BPD is investigating the possibility of holding similar gun buyback events in the future.
