Safer Homes, Safer Community 2019 for our 5th annual Gun Buy Back. This interfaith, community-wide effort is a proven way to provide a safe and easy way for Cambridge residents to get unwanted and unsecured guns out of their homes in exchange for gift cards to local grocery stores.
The Cambridge Safer Homes, Safer Community Gun Buy Back is focused on getting unwanted and unsecured guns out of homes where they pose a serious risk to children, people with mental illness who may contemplate suicide and those at risk of domestic violence. This year’s gun buy-back will be on the morning of Saturday, June 8 at two locations: Pentecostal Tabernacle North and Reservoir Church. No questions asked. No identification required.
Congregations and community organizations can help in any or all of three ways:
- First: Join with other Cambridge faith communities and community organizations to support this community effort by signing on as a Partner. (A list of the 2018 Partners is in the attached letter.)
- Second: As a Partner, help get the word out to your congregation and beyond so that residents who have or know people who have guns in their homes will consider getting rid of them at the gun buy back. I have attached a flyer.
- Third: If you are able, help us raise funds to purchase grocery gift cards to exchange for guns either by making a donation or seeking donations from others. We hope to raise $5000 to purchase grocery gift cards to be given in exchange for guns turned in. Leftover gift cards will be donated to Cambridge food pantries. Checks should be made out to Many Helping Hands/Cambridge Community Foundation and mailed to them at 99 Bishop Allen Dr., Cambridge, MA 02139. Or you can contribute online at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/CambridgeCommunityFoundation (Please check “specific fund or purpose” and put Gift Cards for Guns in the special purpose box.)
(Note: Helping us raise funds is very helpful but not a prerequisite for being a Partner.)
Cambridge Police and the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office will be managing both sites and handling the guns turned in, and the State Police will destroy the guns. Residents turning in guns and ammunition will be given a gift card to a local grocery or restaurant. Recent gun buybacks in Middlesex County towns have raised public awareness that unsecured firearms in homes are dangerous to children, people with mental illness, those vulnerable to domestic abuse and others in the community.
This is an interfaith and community-led effort led by Cambridge churches, synagogues and mosques and by other grassroots community organizations, as well as government agencies including the Cambridge Peace Commission, the Cambridge Police Department, the Cambridge Public Health Department, the Middlesex County Sheriff and State Police.