The City of Reading held its inaugural gun buyback event Saturday with residents lined up at two locations, 924 Greenwhich and 436 South 7th Street.
During the event, handguns, shotguns, and rifles could be exchanged for gift cards of $100, Semi automatic weapons $200.
Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli and Mayor Eddie Moran began the morning at the South 7th site, and were very pleased with the initial results.
“This Gun buyback is a really good program because it’s getting firearms off the streets” said Chief Tornielli.
“We’re seeing a lot of firearms that folks didn’t have an idea of where to take them or how to dispose of them bring them here.”
Tornielli says whether the firearms would be used in a crime or not, it really doesn’t matter. The goal of the buyback event is to help ensure they can’t be stolen or used in a crime.
“We’re really happy seeing the success we’ve seen today” he said.
Based on Saturday’s success, Tornielli expects he will be scheduling additional buyback events in the future.
For those who may have missed Saturday’s event, Tornielli suggests residents can contact the Reading Police Department to properly dispose of any unused firearms.
Following the event, Tornielli said a total of 91 Guns were turned in.
