DA will hold Erie’s first gun buyback event since ’94. How will it work?

On Oct. 28, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office will be giving away $100 to $200 in cash gift cards for surrendered long guns, handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Weapons will be accepted anonymously.

Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz announced the gun buyback program, saying it is intended to reduce crime and get unwanted guns out of homes.
Guns will be collected at the Erie Central Fire Station on West 12th Street
The last City gun buyback event took place 29 years ago, and debate continues over the effectiveness of such programs.

As gun violence persists in Erie, a gun buyback program has been scheduled in the city for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office will hold the “first in a series of gun buyback events” on Saturday, Oct. 28, the office said in a statement Tuesday.

The event runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the Erie Central Fire Station, 208 W. 12th St., just west of Sassafras Street. The prosecutor’s office promotes the event with the slogan “Save a life. Turn a gun.“

The ransom is “entirely anonymous,” the Prosecutor’s Office said. “Residents do not need to show ID and will receive payments ranging from $100 to $200 in cash gift cards, depending on the type of gun” that is turned in.

The district attorney’s office is funding the event using drug forfeiture funds, and the event “will be at no cost to Erie County taxpayers,” the office said.

The bureau said it will accept rifles and shotguns ($100 gift cards each), handguns ($150) and semi-automatic weapons ($200). Ammunition can also be dropped off, but will not result in payment, the office said.

When was the last time Erie bought a gun?

The redemption will be the first in the city since 1994.

Critics of that event, called Return-A-Pistol, said it was largely a failure because it resulted in the collection of mostly antique or inoperable guns. Others said the event — which, as will be the case for the Oct. 28 event, allowed residents to surrender their guns without questions — further helped get firearms off homes or the streets.

The city of Erie implemented the buyout in 1994 in response to an increase in gun violence.

In announcing the Oct. 28 event, District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said the gun buy-back program is intended to reduce gun violence and help prevent the theft of guns in burglaries and help stop accidental discharges of guns, especially handguns of fire improperly stored in the residence where the children live.

“Our gun buyback event will provide the community with a safe and anonymous way to turn in guns they no longer need or want,” Hirz said in a statement. “The event will help keep our community safe by reducing the chances of theft, self-harm and accidental discharges. Improperly stored weapons are a serious risk in homes with children.”

Do gun buyback programs work?

Erie County public officials discussed in 2015 setting up a gun buyback, which the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority could fund. The authority did not provide funding after a review of studies showing that gun buyback programs are ineffective in reducing gun violence.

The gun buyback debate continues.

A report by the Pew Charitable Trusts in September 2022 found that buybacks remain popular in the United States, but said “most research shows that these events are ineffective in reducing homicides and suicides.”

“It’s a waste of resources if the sponsoring entities think it’s going to have a positive effect on reducing crime,” said Keith Taylor, an assistant professor at City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The York system said in the Pew report. “But if the goal is to give individuals a means to get rid of guns in their households that they no longer want, it’s absolutely a good option.”

In an interview, Hirz said she was aware of the debate about the effectiveness of gun buybacks, but said “I don’t think that’s a reason not to try. I don’t see a disadvantage.”

“It doesn’t cost the taxpayers money,” she said. “We have to try something. If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to the drawing board and try something else.”

In 2015, while ECGRA was studying funding for a gun buyback, Joyce Savocchio talked about how such a program worked in 1994, when he was mayor of Erie.

The city raised about $35,000, mostly from private donations but with $5,000 in public money, to fund Return-A-Pistol ’94, or RAP, which the Erie City Council approved. The city gave out $50 vouchers for each working handgun and $25 vouchers for each working long gun.

“Gun buyback programs were initiatives that were going on all over the country back then,” Savocchio said in 2015. “My attitude was that everything was worth a try.”

The idea was noble, Savocchio said. But she said a major problem arose once the Erie program began.

“What we were really getting were guns that might have been in old people’s homes or deceased people and people didn’t know how to get rid of them, or guns that were broken and useless, that kind of thing,” Savocchio said. “If people would have expected that guns on the street used to commit crimes would find their way into the collection bins, that hasn’t happened.”

The program began in February 1994 and collected 645 weapons. The city shut it down after three days when it ran out of money.

What you need to know about the gun buyback program

When: Saturday, October 28, from noon to 4 p.m., regardless of the weather.

Where: Erie Central Fire Station, 208 W. 12th St., just west of Sassafras Street

What: The Erie County Prosecutor’s Office will accept unloaded rifles, handguns and semi-automatic weapons. Guns will be accepted anonymously, “no questions asked,” the office said. Ammo will be accepted but will not result in payment. The surrendered weapons and ammunition will become the property of the DA’s detective bureau, which will arrange for their destruction, the bureau said.

How much it costs: The prosecutor’s office said it will offer cash gift cards in exchange for the guns: $100 for rifles and shotguns, $150 for handguns and $200 for semi-automatic weapons.

Other details: Residents are to carry unloaded firearms in the trunks of their vehicles and enter the West 12th Street fire station parking lot, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. The office said residents should remain in their vehicles while the firearms are removed and they receive their appropriate gift cards. Vehicles must depart via the Sassafras Street exit.

More information: The DA said to call their office at 814-451-7023, send questions to [email protected] or go to www.ErieDA. org. The office said not to contact the Erie Fire Department.

Contact Ed Palattella at [email protected]. Follow X @ETNpalattella.