New Bedford and Fall River Police Collect Guns for Groceries

The New Bedford and Fall River police departments held their annual “Guns for Groceries” event this past Saturday, with residents of each city able to turn in unwanted firearms in exchange for grocery store gift cards, no questions asked.

The exchange has been ongoing for a number of years but this year's proved to be especially successful.

Fall River Police reported via Facebook that the department had set a new record on Saturday, with more than 100 firearms turned in, including 51 handguns, 60 long guns and a large amount of BB guns.

New Bedford saw 46 firearms turned in, with 33 long guns and 13 handguns.

Other weapons were collected as well, including knives, swords and other contraband.

In an appearance on WBSM days prior to the event, Rev. David Lima and New Bedford Police Assistant Deputy Chief Scott Carola discussed the Guns for Groceries event.

Rev. Lima said Fall River has been holding their annual event a little longer than New Bedford, but he estimated that the New Bedford version alone has taken about 1,500 firearms off the street over the years.

“It was started by (former Domino’s Pizza owner) Nelson Hockert-Lotz after some of his drivers were robbed at gunpoint. He wanted to raise awareness and try to make our streets safe,” Rev. Lima said. “This is going back to the ‘90s…all you got back then was a certificate for a free pizza.”

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Lima emphasized that this was not an event designed to “take away guns.”

“This is not anti-gun, it’s pro-safety,” he said. “You have a lot of guns that, sometimes people become enthusiasts, buy one or two guns, practice and whatever else but then they’re not being used, and not being stored correctly.”

Assistant Deputy Chief Carola said that many of the firearms they take in were originally owned by someone in the household who passed away.

“The spouse or the children don’t know what to do with the weapon. It’s just sitting around in a closet or a basement, not properly locked or stored,” he said. “Somebody could get a hold of that, take it in a housebreak. A lot of the weapons we see (used in crimes) are taken in a housebreak. This takes those weapons out of the equation.”

Carola said all of the weapons taken during Saturday’s event in New Bedford would be destroyed.