Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and Shaq want your guns.
They'll give a $100 gift card for handgun and $125 for a long firearm beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday [Feb. 10] at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department Training Academy, 8401 S. Polk St.
Critics of gun buybacks say they don't reduce crime.
But Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown says they help reduce weapon-involved accidents.
"Some people have said to us, ‘Well, you know, that that does not affect crime,’ ” Brown said. “What we are trying to affect is safety. That's what we are trying to affect — gun violence.”
Licensed deputy and basketball star Shaquille O'Neal is one partner in the county-wide event.
“I support Sheriff Brown’s initiatives,” O’Neal said in a statement. “[The] Sheriff is doing the right thing and keeping our communities safe.”
The goal is for residents to get rid of up to three guns.
"If an individual is accidentally shot, i.e. a child playing with a weapon, then that's gun violence,” Brown said. “It's not necessarily a crime, but that's gun violence, and that's what we're trying to affect.”
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