Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 21, 1994 TAG: 9403210081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The leaders of the Goods for Guns drive originally expected to take in about 100 guns over two weekends. But the first collection March 5 brought in 114 guns alone, and Saturday's swap added 177.
More than $26,000 was raised in the entire effort.
"We really are thrilled, and we are humbled, and we are grateful for the community response," said the Rev. David Poist, one of the drive's organizers.
About half the guns turned in Saturday were pistols, and the others were rifles and shotguns, according to Charlottesville and Albemarle County police. Police collected the firearms with the help of volunteers.
Most people who brought in guns were given $100 in vouchers, redeemable at 18 locations. A few turned in guns and refused vouchers.
Buyback organizers ran out of vouchers by about noon - despite an additional $1,000 pledged by United Way - and said later they could have bought about 20 more guns if they'd had more vouchers.
Most guns brought to gun buyback programs, held in a number of U.S. cities in recent months, aren't the kinds used in crimes, authorities say. But police said some of the guns collected Saturday in Charlottesville fit the profile. Five sawed-off shotguns were collected, as well as a number of small pistols that can be hidden in someone's hand.
"I call this an armed robbery special," said Ralph Barfield, an evidence technician with the Charlottesville Police Department, holding up a sawed-off shotgun. Barfield demonstrated how the weapon could be held close to the body under a long coat without being seen, then brought through the coat's opening to threaten someone.
"I can almost guarantee you that this has been used in an armed robbery in Charlottesville sometime in the last 10 years," he said in the lobby of Zion Union Baptist Church, one of the buyback collection points.
About five guns will be taken to a museum to see if they can be used in historic exhibits, including two guns from the 1800s, Barfield said. The rest will be destroyed.
Denise Hawkins, 33, of Charlottesville, brought in a gun that she and her family used when they learned to hunt.
"I just don't want it in the house anymore," she said.
Hawkins said she would use the vouchers to buy groceries.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro