Police Offering Gift Cards For Guns

City police are again trading gift cards for guns as part of a seven-year-old initiative to make city streets safer, no questions asked.

On Saturday, Dec. 15, the New Haven Police Department, Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH), and the Newtown Foundation will be hosting the latest event in its gun-buyback program. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the New Haven Police Academy at 710 Sherman Pkwy.

“This program is a determined effort to make New Haven safer by taking dangerous weapons off the streets,” police Public Information Officer David Hartman wrote in a press release, ​“and potentially out of the hands of those who perpetrate crimes, are the unfortunate souls lost to suicide and those victimized by accidents.”

Click here to download the full press release. Click here to download a flyer for the event.

According to the press release, guns must be delivered unloaded in clear plastic bags, and ammunition must be delivered in a separate bag.

“The person dropping off the gun will not be charged with illegal possession of that specific firearm,” Hartman wrote. ​“No questions asked and no identification will be required, as the identity of all individuals will remain anonymous.”

The department will pay $25 for single and double-shot handguns, $50 for rifles and shotguns, $100 for pistol and revolver handguns, and $200 for assault weapons.

The police department has been hosting gun buy-back events dating back to 2011. This fall, the department, the hospital, and the Newtown Foundation held a ​“guns into plowshares” initiative where local sculptor Gar Waterman helped deconstruct bought back weapons, while a handful of local inmates converted the broken down gun parts into farm tools.

According to YNHH’s Pina Violano, as of this September, the seven-year-old program has taken nearly 800 guns off of city streets.