Edmonds Police 'Gift Cards for Guns' event nets 75 firearms, including 1 stolen

EDMONDS, Wash. - Edmonds Police hosted its first ‘Gift Cards for Guns’ event on Saturday, and collected 75 firearms—including a gun reported stolen in 1990.

The city says it was their first such event. Participants could turn in as many firearms as they liked, and could receive up to $200 in Amazon gift cards. In just a few hours, the city had given out $4,500 in gift cards.

Residents turned in 44 rifles/shotguns and 31 handguns.

According to the city, the event is meant to provide an opportunity for people to get rid of unwanted weapons. This includes weapons inherited through the family, changes in life circumstances or simply people wanting to get guns out of their house.

"Thanks to our community and our police department, 75 firearms will no longer be available to harm anyone. That is 75 less opportunities for a child to be injured or killed and 75 less firearms that could be stolen and used in a future crime," said Edmonds Mayor Mike Nelson. "I greatly appreciate everyone’s effort in supporting firearm safety and gun violence prevention."

All weapons that were turned in were first checked in state and national databases, which is where one of the handguns was pinged as stolen in 1990. Police have not provided any additional information on an investigation.

RELATED: WSP: High-speed pursuit ends when suspect enters Canada, crashes into car

"I’m extremely proud of our staff for putting on such a well-organized event that furthered our community engagement," said Police Chief Michelle Bennett, "Safely removing over seventy unwanted weapons from our community means that criminals won’t have access to them, and potential tragedies may be avoided."

Once weapons are cleared through the database check, they are taken to a regional facility and destroyed. Weapons are not kept for department use.