San Mateo County Officials Collect 425 Firearms In 1st Of 5 Gun Buyback Events

SAN MATEO (BCN) – San Mateo County authorities said Wednesday that they collected 425 firearms at a gun buyback event in San Carlos last weekend.

The county on Saturday held the first of five such buyback events it will hold through 2023 and paid $100 per handgun, shotgun or rifle and $200 per assault weapon.

Among the 425 guns collected, six were assault weapons and three were untraceable "ghost" guns, county officials said.

Last month, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved spending up to $208,000 in reserves from revenue collected via Measure K, a 2016 voter-approved extension of a half-cent sales tax. The county Sheriff's Office added $100,000 and the community group Citizens for a San Mateo County Gun Buyback contributed $67,000 to fund the events.

Two more of the gun buyback events will be held in 2022, according to the county.

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