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Group offers to buy back gunsHope to curb local violencePeter Marcus, DDN Staff WriterFriday, November 14, 2008 |  | | GUN BUY-BACK PROGRAM — Community leader Alvertis Simmons, center, addresses the media yesterday where he announced a community gun buy-back program. Denver Daily News photo by Peter Marcus. |
Community leaders yesterday announced a gun buy back program that offers $50 to anyone who turns in a gun — “no questions asked.”
Organized by black community leader Alvertis Simmons, the program attempts to remove guns from the streets to curb future violence. On Dec. 6, from noon-3 p.m., gun owners will be able to turn in their guns — working or not — for $50 per gun. The rally will take place at City Park in front of the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue. The program has been approved by the Denver Police Department, but organizers promise that no questions will be asked.
“We’re tired of our kids dying, we’re tired of our community being shed with blood — do something, shut up, stop complaining,” said Simmons at a news conference yesterday in front of the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. in City Park. “We voted, now we’ve got to get those guns out of the hands of all these criminals.”
Joined by three other black community leaders, Simmons and the group spoke of the empowerment they feel by the election of President-elect Barack Obama. But they said the next step for the black community is to take specific action in individual communities.
“We’ve got a problem in our community. We are certainly trying to keep pace with our President-elect … but we cannot have unity and have violence living together in our community,” said Rev. Reginald Holmes, pastor of New Covenant Christian Church in Denver. “So we, particularly as African Americans, we must really begin to work in our community, and one of the first things we can affect is this whole area of illegal and illicit weapons in our community that are not being used for any other purpose than to perpetuate crime.”
Following Obama’s election, gun sales in Colorado soared as owners attempted to stock up out of suspicions that the new president would work to ban guns on the federal level. Holmes said he believes the hysteria is based on fear.
“We think that it’s fear and people overreacting, but in no way does Sen. Obama intend to take anybody’s guns away,” he said. “What we’re talking about are the Saturday night specials and the illegal and illicit use of the guns, not to defend, but to kill, maim and hurt.”
The group said the issue is not about trying to ban guns — Holmes said he himself is a gun owner. They said it is simply an attempt to get guns out of the hands of people who have no business owning one in the first place. And perhaps to encourage women and other family members to proactively remove the guns from their homes by turning them in at the rally on Dec. 6, organizers said.
Organizers are currently raising money themselves for the buy back program, but are asking for some in the business community to step up and match financial donations. A record of all the guns taken will be kept, and all the guns will be destroyed by the Denver Police Department, Simmons said.
Finances will be controlled by the FACE IT advocacy group through Holmes’ church. Donations can be made by calling 303-907-1337, or by sending a check to 825 Ivanhoe Street in Denver.
“On Dec. 6th, just drop the gun in the box, get your $50 and go on with your business,” said Simmons.
Gun Buy Back Rally:
WHAT: Turn in a gun, get $50
WHEN: Dec. 6th, noon-3 p.m.
WHERE: City Park, 17th and Esplanade
DONATIONS: 303-907-1337, or 825 Ivanhoe St. in Denver
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