Las Cruces residents surrender 160 firearms in “gun buyback” event
Las Cruces residents voluntarily and anonymously surrendered 160 firearms during a gun “buyback” day hosted by the Las Cruces Police Department and New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Today was an amazing success,” said Miranda Vascoli, the co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence. “We know today that we made Las Cruces a much safer community.”
The nonprofit allowed residents to exchange their firearms for gift cards to stores like Amazon and Whole Foods, offering a $250 gift card for a semi-automatic rifle, a $200 gift card for a semi-automatic handgun and a $100 gift card for any other firearm.
“The whole idea is just to take guns that people do not want in the house and take them off the street,” said Dan Trujillo, a spokesman for the Las Cruces Police Department. “A gun that’s in a house, that’s not being used at all, and probably will never be used by the owner, there’s a chance it could be stolen.”
One ABC-7 viewer, who asked to remain anonymous, asked: “Is the city of Las Cruces, by doing this, making a political statement by saying the average person shouldn’t have firearms?”
“This is not an improper use of our taxpayer dollars,” Trujillo said. “Our officers are here to collect the guns and make sure they’re safe.”
Viscoli said the law enforcement presence was necessary to handle the guns properly and determine if any were stolen.
“We are not an anti-gun organization,” Viscoli said. “We have many gun owners in our organization and this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment. This has nothing to do with being anti-gun. This is simply about gun violence prevention.”
Viscoli said New Mexicans Against Gun Violence will dismantle all 160 guns and re-purpose them, making garden tools, jewelry or other art projects. She said they will sell them to raise money for their next gun buyback.
“I like to see people being safe with their guns,” Viscoli said.
The ABC-7 viewer asked why city tax dollars were used to sponsor the event.
“The organization is the one who paid for the gift cards, not us,” Trujillo said. “Anybody who doesn’t want to participate, doesn’t want to give up their firearms, they don’t have to.”
At least seven officers worked at the event, which was held at the City of Las Cruces East Mesa Public Safety Complex on Sonoma Ranch Boulevard, Trujillo said.
“We’re not condoning anything illegal,” Trujillo said.
New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence has hosted six buyback events since it was formed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook shooting.
“Second Amendment gun enthusiasts can come in and say, ‘You’re anti-gun if you do that,'” Viscoli told ABC-7. “I don’t see how that’s at all possible.”
