SAN ANTONIO — Hunting rifles to handguns to assault rifles, people voluntary dropped them off and walked away with H-E-B gift cards on Sunday for the "Voluntary Weapons Xchange" in the parking lot of the Alamodome.
District 9 Councilman John Courage says there are a lot of people concerned about so many weapons in the community and in homes that could potentially cause harm.
"We look for people who may want to bring in old rifles. They're not using pistols, handguns or some people even have weapons like AR-15's," said Courage.
Courage called the gun exchange program a matter of public, personal and private safety.
"Any weapon we collect, every weapon we collect will be destroyed. It will not be sold. It will not be reused. It's going to go to a shredder, and it'll never be used to harm somebody, kill somebody, or commit a crime in this city," said Courage.
Courage says he's heard stories of children finding weapons in homes that have accidently hurt or even killed themselves or someone else.
He says people going through a mental health crisis might use a weapon to take their own lives or guns could be used in a domestic violence situation.
Executive Director with Big Mama's Safe House, Rosemary Williams volunteered at today's event, hoping to see more people of color surrendering guns.
"People say 'well I don't want to turn it in because, you know I'm going to be in trouble or this is going to happen,' but that's not the reason for it. The reason is because it's a public health crisis and it's for the sake of our children," said Williams.
About $170,000 in gift cards were available to exchange for the surrendered guns and that money came from community donors and religious groups.
"Some of my fellow council members have been supportive of this. I have as well," said Courage.
Last year, 900 guns were surrendered. This year 570 were exchanged, but this time they only accepted working guns.
Courage also says weapons could be stolen when homes are burglarized and then used out in the community to commit crimes.
"I think it's true because a lot of people are getting rid of firearms they aren't otherwise using, which then are at risk to lose track of. And that could increase the likelihood of them getting stolen and then not reported," said Tim Loya.
Councilman Courage says there have been some people concerned that this might be taking people's rights away but he wants to stress this has nothing to do with rights and the exchange is totally voluntary.