25 Guns

Here is a press release from the march I wrote about in the June 7th post, In Oakland, Seeking the Courage to Surrender. I was talking about surrendering the urge to commit violence, but I could just as easliy have been talking about the courage to surrender your gun. Twenty-five guns may not seem like a lot, but I imagine to the OPD, the notion of 25 guns out of circulation in Oakland sounds pretty good.

The 100% Strong Peace Event and The Gun Buyback–On Saturday, June 2, Messengers4Change and 100 Women Against Violence hosted the 100% Strong Peace Event and Gun Buyback at the De La Fuente Plaza in Fruitvale. Community members marched from East Oakland and West Oakland and culminated at De La Fuente Plaza for a resource fair and gun buyback. The event was held to engage and inform the community about violence prevention and the multitude of resources and services available, while promoting a safe city for children and families. Prior to the event,$10,000 was raised for the gun buyback, mostly in individual/small donations. During the event, Oakland residents who turned in a working gun received a $100 gift card from the event organizers. The Oakland Police Department received a total of 25 guns. Among the various hand guns and rifles turned in, two shot guns had the barrels sawed off. For more information, please contact the Oakland Police Department Media Relations Unit at  
(510) 238-7230 oropdmedia@oaklandnet.com or Jennifer Argueta, Measure Y, at (510) 238-2056 or jargueta@oaklandnet.com 
Messengers4Change and 100 Women Against Violence are meeting this week to discuss our next steps. Our goal is to collect 100 guns, since we still have gift cards left, we are still pushing for that goal.