by Illinois Attorney General candidate Thomas DeVore discusses whether Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed bail reform law will open the floodgates for more crime in Chicago in ‘The Evening Edit.’
The Chicago Police Department held an event over the weekend where it paid residents to turn in their weapons.
The event, held Saturday at Saint Ida Church in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, gave residents a $100 prepaid gift card for each gun they turned in and $10 for airsoft guns, airsoft guns and replica guns. WFLD-TV reported.
Chicagoans who attended the event were not asked how they acquired the guns if they turned them in, and there was no limit to the number of guns each person could redeem for a gift card.
A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said 103 firearms were turned in during the event along with 19 replica weapons.
CHICAGO MAN SECRETLY LEAVES BEHIND $11M ‘LIFE-CHANGING’ INHERITANCE FOR 119 FAMILY MEMBERS
The Chicago Police Department held a gun buyback event on Saturday (WFLD-TV/Fox News)
“Gun surrender gives people the ability to surrender a weapon without asking questions.” Glen Brooks, director of community policing for the Chicago Police Department, told the outlet. “We’re not asking if the gun was found, if it stayed, if you inherited it, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do everything you can to make yourself and your family safer.”
The weapons will be destroyed by the Chicago Police Department and anyone who was unable to attend the event is encouraged to turn them in at the police station, but they will not be eligible to receive a gift card.
CHICAGO POLICE SEARCH FOR TWO SUSPECTS IN MURDER OF TEEN SITTING ON PORCH
Chicago skyline, photographed from the exterior of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Chicago police also say they can safely dispose of any ammunition or gun parts.
The gun swap event comes as Chicago continues to fight gun crime, including 24 reported shooting incidents that claimed 31 fatalities over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The shootings over the weekend included at least four minors, and police said at least six people were killed in the weekend violence.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Chicago Police Department personnel at the scene of an unspecified crime in this undated photo. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)
Police and community organizers have held gun buyback events across the city in recent months, while Democrats in the state continue to push for gun control legislation, including a move this week to ban assault weapons. and high-capacity chargers, WLS-TV reported.
