Drizzt
Member
Annual gun buy-back collects 73 weapons
01/19/03
VICTORIA L. COMAN
News staff writer
Weapons came to St. Joseph Baptist Church on Saturday in plastic bags, paper sacks and canvas carrying cases. Some even were brought in nestled in their holsters.
Birmingham residents brought 73 pistols, shotguns, rifles and even pop guns and pellet guns to the church during this year's gun buy-back.
The event has been held each year in Birmingham since 1993 to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King. Monday marks the national observance of the birthday of the slain civil rights leader, who was shot to death April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn.
"He taught us to be nonviolent," said the Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr., the church's pastor and president of the Birmingham Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, one of the sponsors of the event. King, " ... taught us to turn to each other, not on each other."
Depending on the condition of the weapons, sellers were paid up to $50. The event also offered exchanges of toys considered violent including guns and knives for other toys such as sets of Legos, trains and motorcycles and dolls.
Only one little boy, 3-year-old Quintaris Dinatale, brought in his toy revolver for the toy exchange. He got a battery-operated train set and a "Big Sister" doll for this 5-year-old sister Monica Dinatale out of the deal.
"I'd rather have this instead," he said coyly while grabbing the set from his cousin's hands.
In past years, the buy-back has netted as many as 501 guns. As the years have progressed, the collections have mainly totaled less than 100 weapons from each buy-back session. Woods attributed the drop off to word of mouth about the amounts people get for most of the weapons.
"It was new and people just brought them in," he said of collections during the buy-back's first years. "Many of them brought them in thinking we were going to pay $50 for any gun. They found out they couldn't just bring in guns in any kind of condition."
Still, Woods said he is proud of the results.
"If we can take just one gun out of circulation that would be used to shoot somebody, then what we're doing here today would be very fruitful and not in vain," Woods said.
The weapons were taken to the Birmingham Police Department's property room. Some will be used to help build a sculpture remembering victims of handgun violence in Birmingham, Woods said. The sculpture is expected to stand at the corner of Eighth Avenue North and 18th Street North, he said.
The rest of the weapons will be destroyed.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamne...l_standard.xsl?/base/news/104297165543580.xml
01/19/03
VICTORIA L. COMAN
News staff writer
Weapons came to St. Joseph Baptist Church on Saturday in plastic bags, paper sacks and canvas carrying cases. Some even were brought in nestled in their holsters.
Birmingham residents brought 73 pistols, shotguns, rifles and even pop guns and pellet guns to the church during this year's gun buy-back.
The event has been held each year in Birmingham since 1993 to honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King. Monday marks the national observance of the birthday of the slain civil rights leader, who was shot to death April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn.
"He taught us to be nonviolent," said the Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr., the church's pastor and president of the Birmingham Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, one of the sponsors of the event. King, " ... taught us to turn to each other, not on each other."
Depending on the condition of the weapons, sellers were paid up to $50. The event also offered exchanges of toys considered violent including guns and knives for other toys such as sets of Legos, trains and motorcycles and dolls.
Only one little boy, 3-year-old Quintaris Dinatale, brought in his toy revolver for the toy exchange. He got a battery-operated train set and a "Big Sister" doll for this 5-year-old sister Monica Dinatale out of the deal.
"I'd rather have this instead," he said coyly while grabbing the set from his cousin's hands.
In past years, the buy-back has netted as many as 501 guns. As the years have progressed, the collections have mainly totaled less than 100 weapons from each buy-back session. Woods attributed the drop off to word of mouth about the amounts people get for most of the weapons.
"It was new and people just brought them in," he said of collections during the buy-back's first years. "Many of them brought them in thinking we were going to pay $50 for any gun. They found out they couldn't just bring in guns in any kind of condition."
Still, Woods said he is proud of the results.
"If we can take just one gun out of circulation that would be used to shoot somebody, then what we're doing here today would be very fruitful and not in vain," Woods said.
The weapons were taken to the Birmingham Police Department's property room. Some will be used to help build a sculpture remembering victims of handgun violence in Birmingham, Woods said. The sculpture is expected to stand at the corner of Eighth Avenue North and 18th Street North, he said.
The rest of the weapons will be destroyed.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamne...l_standard.xsl?/base/news/104297165543580.xml