PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Organizers collected more than 200 firearms during a recent community-driven gun buyback effort, and they hope to host another event soon.
Bilal Qayyum, who runs the Father's Day Rally Committee and organized the effort, with help from Philadelphia City Council and police, said people were able to surrender their working handguns and semiautomatic weapons in exchange for a $100 gift card to Brown's ShopRite — no questions asked.
"They just wanted to get them out the house, so they turned them in," he said.
In all, 224 guns were taken off the streets that day.
"We feel very strongly that taking guns out of folks' houses can lead to possibly less shootings," he added.
But the buyback events aren't cheap — this one cost $20,000.
"That's why I really feel that white people need to step up," said Emily Clark of the Greenfield Foundation. "If white people went and saw what was going on in the schools in these low-income neighborhoods, they would feel so differently if it was their kids there — they would feel so differently."
The organization donated a grant to the buyback program.
She also launched a GoFundMe account that helped pay for this most recent buyback event. Brown's ShopRite donated another $5,000.
But more money is needed for the next one, and she hopes others will pitch in.
"I just feel a responsibility living in a place where I feel safe," she said, "and I think we all need to make a difference."
The next gun buyback event is slated for some time in February.
