Giving Up the Gun: Do We Need a Buyback Program?

Editor's Note: This article has been updated following an interivew with Rick Tanksley, chief of police in Oak Park.

In the days following news of the horrific mass shooting in Newtown, CT, a River Forest resident decided it was finally time to get rid of an antique gun that had been in her home for decades. 

The family was unsure whether the gun even worked, but all the same, they called police to their home who took the gun into custody and placed it in lockup to wait until it could be destroyed.

The resident reported the gun a day following the shooting spree that left 20 children and six adults dead. Had the shooting been the spark that led the resident to get rid of the gun once and for all?

Christine, who asked that her name be changed in this story to protect her privacy, said it was.

"I just feel like, I don't get guns," Christine said. "They scare me and I really feel like people just shouldn't have them."

The gun was on a wall in her mother’s home for nearly 30 years, she said, having been gifted to the family from the previous owner.

"It had always been there," she said. "It was there when they bought the house and it just kind of stayed there."

She watched news about the Newtown shooting on television with her mother as they packed up the house in preparation of moving her mother to an assisted living facility. The subject of the gun in their home came up again.

"I was upset and I said, 'I don't want this here and I don't want anyone else to have it," Christine said. "My mother said the same thing."

However, the family wasn't immediately sure what to do with it. How exactly do you get rid of an unwanted gun?

"We get a few guns turned in every year," said Craig Rutz, deputy chief at the River Forest Police Department. "People find them in the attic, or a relative passes away and they don't want them, but don't know what to do with them."

Twice a year, Rutz said, the department collects guns in their lock up that have been turned in or confiscated and takes them to the village's public works department to have them destroyed.

"It's generally whenever we have a enough to use up an afternoon," Rutz said. "We cut them up into little pieces so that they're no longer functional."

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Evanston's Gun Buyback Nets 45 Guns Off the Street

On the same day that Christine turned her gun into River Forest police, the city of Evanston was also doing its part to collect unwanted guns. In a buyback day on Dec. 15, the Evanston Police Department collected a total of 45 guns from residents, including 16 handguns, 15 rifles and four shotguns. One of the handguns recovered had been reported stolen nearly two years before.

For each gun turned in, Evanston offered a cash gift card.

"I'm sure there are several reasons," Evanston police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said about whether the volume collected had anything to do with the Sandy Hook shooting spree. "Evanston had a few recent homicides and shootings too that probably had [residents] thinking about getting rid of guns."

Parrott said the police department believed the buyback program was a success and said the department had hosted a buyback program a few years before that was also successful.

But, he said, it can be difficult to judge the overall impact of the program. For one thing, he said, criminals are not the ones turning in the guns.

"[Individuals] who turn in guns generally aren't going to use them to commit a crime," Parrott said. "However, there's always the potential that turning in that gun could save a life."

Area Departments Also Report Guns Turned In

"Every once in a while, someone will find a gun and turn it in to us," said Tom Aftanas, deputy chief of police in Forest Park. "It's pretty rare, but any gun off the street is good."

Aftanas said the department gets about five guns turned in every year.

Rick Tanksley, chief of police in Oak Park, said that residents turn in a few guns each year to the department. Like other area departments, Tanksley said most guns are turned in by residents who find them after a family member is moved out and do not wish to keep them, or want them destroyed.

"I encourage any resident who has a gun in the house... and wants it out of the house, to feel free to drop off the weapon to us," Tanksley said.

Tanksley added the department would also send an officer to the home to take possession of the weapon, and there is no risk that a resident would be cited if they decided to turn in their gun.

River Forest, Forest Park and Oak Park all reported that their police departments have never held a gun buyback program in the past, or hosted an event for residents to turn in unwanted guns. All three departments also reported knowing of no plans to hold such events in the future.

Tanksley said that although the village has no plans to hold such an event in the "immediate future" they are planning to do more community outreach regarding gun violence this year. As part of that outreach, Tanksley said, the department would be providing more information to residents about turning in weapons to the department.

Would a Gun Buyback Program Be a Success Here?

In Christine's opinion, area police departments should regularly hold events to allow residents to get rid of unwanted weapons of all kinds. If River Forest had publicized such an event in the past, she said she probably would have gotten rid of the shotgun sooner.

"I think I would have if I had known about something like that," she said. "We never really knew what to do with it, so it just stayed there."

To get rid of her family's gun, she said she went into the River Forest police station to ask what could be done. An officer was later sent to their home to retrieve the gun and bring it to the department to be destroyed at a later date.

"That's what I wanted," Christine said. "I didn't want it sold—I didn't want it out there. I wanted it gone and gone for good."

She said she feels better knowing it will destroyed and won't end up in the wrong hands, or stolen, in the case of one of the guns recently recovered by police in Evanston.

"I think if the program was offered and resident knew about it, a lot more people would turn in their guns," Christine said.

Christine said she would not have wanted money for her gun, but thought that offering a gift card or other incentive might help to bring more in. At the very least, she said, residents should know that turning in a gun to the police department is an option.

"Maybe just offer a tax write-off," Christine suggested. "Anything to just have less of them on the street. It's terrible that it takes a tragedy to get people to think about this. People are killed all the time in [Chicago's Austin neighborhood] and on the Southside. That's something we need to think about too."

Related:

• Oak Park Continues to Wrestle with New Gun Restrictions
• Box of Switchblades and Daggers Given to Police

Tell us in comments your thoughts about a gun buyback program in the area. Do you think it would help get guns off the street, or lead to safer neighborhoods?