Pastors, Community Leaders Announce Gun Buyback Event

A group of Indianapolis pastors and community leaders Monday announced a gun buyback event, meant to reduce violent crime in the city.

It's part of “Indy Cease Fire Weekend,” a three-day event about violence reduction.

Wayne Moore, senior pastor of Olivet Baptist Church and president of the Baptist Minister’s Alliance, says it’s important to give young people an incentive to turn in firearms and to make them feel safe when they do it.

"They can just turn the gun in, do what is necessary and walk away," Moore says. "We’re not trying to arrest anybody, we’re trying to get guns off the street. This is not a snitch program."

The group will pay between $80 and $160 for guns that are turned in. Moore says anyone can turn in guns, even a relative of the gun owner. But that person must present a valid form of identification.

In a statement from the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, the groups says violence in the city is often the result of "a simple disagreement that quickly escalates."

"This violence is many times the result of our youth having accidental access to firearms," the statement says. "When we remove unwanted or unused firearms from our community, we reduce the chance of these incidents of violence occurring."

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in recent years has also made firearm investigation and retrieval a focus of its efforts to reduce violent crime.

The weekend event starts Friday, November 2 with an employment and resource fair. The gun buyback program is at the MLK Center, 40 W. 40th St., on the following Saturday.