On Saturday, October 30, residents of Hayward can sell their guns to the Hayward Police Department for $50 each. Rick Blanton, crime prevention specialist for the city, is heading the annual gun exchange program, which has purchased about 780 guns during the last ten years. Similar to gun purchase programs in other cities, police will ask no questions to people bringing their guns for purchase.  “And it has to be a working gun,” states Blanton, who adds that the  money for the program comes from donations from people, organizations, and businesses.

Blanton says there are no statistics related to the potential benefit such programs have on gun-related crime, though it’s clear that crime reduction is not the main goal of Hayward’s program.

“We don’t have statistics, but it’s not our only focus,” said Lieutenant Sheryl Boykins, the police department’s district commander for South Hayward.

“Gun buybacks have been tried before, in cities from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and they simply don’t work,” writes Alexander Tabarrok in a commentary about Oakland’s program in 2008. It doesn’t take much insight to understand why gun buybacks don’t work - gun buybacks attract low-quality guns from people who aren’t likely to use them to commit crimes,” adds Tabarrok, who is Research Director for The Independent Institute in Oakland.

Boykins says that Hayward’s gun exchange is a way to try to lessen the number of guns on the street, “especially seniors who don’t want to leave them with kids or parents who do not want their teenage kids to have access to them by accident. It’s a way to try to reduce accidental shootings. Criminals are always going to find a way to get a gun,” she adds.

Hayward’s gun exchange program on Oct. 30 will start at 10:00 a.m. near the South Hayward BART Station.