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Police offer to exchange gas cards for unwanted guns this weekend

8 years 1 month 6 days ago Friday, February 19 2016 Feb 19, 2016 February 19, 2016 9:02 PM February 19, 2016 in News
Source: WBRZ
By: Kristen Althouse

BATON ROUGE -  Police hope to get some dangerous weapons off the streets of Baton Rouge, Saturday.

It's part of the department's "Guns for Gas" program. Police are asking the community to turn in guns they have in the home, no questions asked. In return, each donor will get a gift card to get gas. The effort is to get guns off the street, and stop the violence in Baton Rouge.

The East Baton Rouge District Attorney, Hillar Moore, encourages everyone to participate in the event, hoping it will keep children and families out of harm's way.

"It's just another step that we do in the community to help the community say, look, there are guns that are out there that children have killed themselves accidentally and we're seeing that time and time again since we started this program, in fact, that's why we started the program." Moore said.

Tonight, the community started the weekend with a rally at the Church of God. They want to stop the violence in Baton Rouge. Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said there are too many young people, killing other young people, and the entire community will have to come together, to make a change.

"Everybody has a role to play and if we want to make things better, it's going to take all of us working together to come together to really effect positive change." Gautreaux said.

According to Police, they have recovered hundreds of stolen guns, and dozens of assault-style weapons using this program. If you have a gun, you want to get rid of, you can Saturday from 9am to 12pm at the Mckowen Missionary Baptist Church, off Louise Street. Make sure you have the weapon in a bag or a case. You will not be able to walk up to police, with a gun in your hand.

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