Over one hundred unwanted and illegal guns were collected on Saturday as the Green Bay Police department attempts to slow the growing trend of gun violence across our region. Over the weekend the city of Green Bay in partnership with the police department and the Brown County Crime Prevention Foundation held their first ever gun buyback campaign.
After a noticeable uptick in gun violence across Green Bay, the police wanted to do something to combat the trend.
"In March of this year there was a spike in violent crime resulting in gun violence and we wanted to bring an initiative here to the city of Green Bay to take the guns off the street," says Captain Kevin Warych of the Green Bay Police Department.
The gun buyback program offered 25 to 50 dollar gift certificates for every gun turned in, no questions asked.
"This was a proactive way of giving people an opportunity to turn in their guns, no questions asked," adds Captain Warych.
Illegal firearms were accepted and so were unregistered guns. The idea was to get as many firearms out of the hands of folks who no longer wanted them and to encourage those who didn’t know what to do with them to turn them over to authorities.
"They've really done a good job of trying to keep our streets safe by getting unwanted guns out of the community," adds Brown Counties District Attorney David Lasee.
According to police many of the guns turned in just weren't used by their owners anymore. Many reportedly were sitting in basements and were a concern of the owners because they could be stolen at some point or even picked up by a child or grandchild.
"They didn't want their kids to touch the guns. They didn't want their guns in the house anymore,” says Captain Warych.
Summed up, it was an opportunity to get rid of a gun in a safe way.
"I think it's a great idea to try to pull those guns off the street and try to cut back on gun violence that's been plaguing this community as of late," adds Lasee.
In total over 120 handguns, shot guns and rifles were collected during the buyback and it was such a success that Green Bay’s Police department is considering doing it again in 2017.
For now though, police will find some comfort knowing that the unwanted guns are in a safe place.
The Green Bay Police say they will properly dispose of all of the guns after the serial numbers on them are all verified. It's all in an effort to ensure stolen guns that may have been collected can make their back, to their rightful owners.
