Trunks popped and gift cards changed hands in Long Beach this weekend as police and county officials pulled in a staggering 430 guns during a drive-through buyback, all headed for destruction. Everything from aging handguns to so-called "ghost" guns with no serial numbers showed up, in an anonymous swap that officials pitched as a low-barrier way to clear out unwanted weapons and cut the risk of accidental shootings at home.
According to the Long Beach Police Department, the event went down Saturday in the parking lot at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, with all firearms surrendered voluntarily and anonymously. Along with real guns, participants handed over replica firearms and ammunition, all of which the department says will be destroyed. "This is an opportunity to raise community awareness and focus on reducing gun violence," Chief Wally Hebeish said in the department's release.
What Came In
Local coverage tallied the haul in detail: 153 pistols, 149 rifles, 50 shotguns, 50 privately manufactured "ghost" guns and 28 firearms classified as assault rifles. That cache made the Long Beach stop the biggest single-day pickup so far in Supervisor Janice Hahn's gun buyback series, which has pulled thousands of firearms off the streets and out of homes since 2022, as reported by Los Cerritos Community News.
How the Exchange Worked
As outlined by the Long Beach Police Department, payouts depended on what rolled up. Non-functioning firearms earned a $50 gift card. Working pistols, rifles and shotguns brought in $150. Ghost guns fetched $200, and assault rifles were valued at $300. Participants were told to stay in their vehicles while detectives removed unloaded weapons from trunks, then documented and secured each firearm with the help of the department's Forensic Science Services Division before sending them on to be destroyed. The event was funded by the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
Do Buybacks Reduce Violence?
Researchers say gun buybacks are reliable at one thing in particular getting unwanted firearms out of homes. Whether they actually drive down violent crime is a different story. Reviews of past events have found that while collection numbers can be impressive, most studies see little or no clear drop in homicides or shootings that can be tied to a single buyback. There is, however, limited evidence that they may offer modest benefits for suicide prevention. That mixed track record is summarized by Journalist's Resource and in a 2021 evidence review in the Annals of Surgery.
Officials who backed the Long Beach event pointed to it as one piece of a larger push that also includes safe-storage outreach and violence-prevention programs. City and county leaders say they plan to keep teaming up on similar exchanges, with local reporting and the department's own release documenting how this latest swap worked and how much each firearm was worth in gift cards. For a closer look at the scene and the payout structure, see MyNewsLA.
