More than 1,300 firearms surrendered in buyback events across Bay Area

Hundreds of guns were collected at buyback events around the Bay Area on Saturday, and organizers said they were encouraged by the turnout.

Rudy Corpuz of United Playaz, a violence prevention and youth development organization that partnered with San Francisco police for the event, said:

“One gun, one bullet that kills someone can destroy the planet.”

The San Francisco buyback collected 318 guns, including 17 assault rifles, during the four-hour event Saturday morning.

Those who turned in guns earned $100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault rifles.

Other events around the region to give residents a venue to safely and anonymously turn in weapons were held Saturday in Gilroy, San Carlos and Vallejo.

In Gilroy, where a mass shooter killed three victims and wounded 17 others in July, police said they collected 493 firearms Saturday, including 26 assault rifles.

At the San Carlos event, 392 firearms were turned in, including eight assault rifles, said San Mateo County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Detective Rosemerry Blankswade.

One person turned in a 26-gun collection that she inherited, Blankswade said. In all, the peninsula event paid out $39,700 for the guns turned in.

Vallejo police said that at the 2019 Solano County Gun Buyback event at the county fairgrounds yielded 154 firearms, up from the 115 turned back in 2018.