The Stockton Police Department is hosting an anonymous gun buyback this weekend in what authorities say is a strategic effort to reduce gun violence in the city.
The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Banner Island Ballpark’s west parking lot at 300 N. Harrison St.
Gun buyback pop-ups have become regular events in Stockton. Police held five buybacks in 2024, purchasing and destroying 592 firearms in all. This is the first such event of 2025.
Police say the buybacks help get illegal weapons off the streets and promote “responsible gun ownership.” All weapons collected at the event will be destroyed, authorities said.
Officer David Scott said those in possession of illegal firearms are encouraged to sell them to the Police Department, as selling to a licensed gun dealer requires background checks and paperwork.
Depending on the type of firearm, the Stockton Police Department will offer either $200 or $400 gift cards. Guns that are not functional and firearm parts may still be turned in for destruction, although no money will be given for those items, police said.
Scott told Stocktonia the entire process for selling a gun during the buyback events takes only a few minutes.
“I was there for one of them, and I think from them entering in to then leaving, I think they had a couple guns, two minutes,” said Scott, a police spokesperson.
Police emphasized in a news release announcing the event that anyone turning in firearms will not be required to provide their personal identification information.
Events like these have proved divisive in the community, with many opposing the buyback on social media.
One commenter on Facebook claimed the police should instead be giving away guns. Another offered to purchase the weapons at double the Police Department’s buyback rate.
“If we can just take just one gun off the street, that could save somebody from being a victim. …That’s a success,” Scott said.
Amanda Charbonneau, a professor of policy analysis at RAND, found in a 2023 research article that aside from reducing the overall stock of firearms in a community, “some gun buybacks aim to achieve other outcomes that might indirectly reduce firearm injuries and fatalities.”
These include raising awareness of firearm violence, educating safe firearm ownership practices and connecting participants to services.