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Winston-Salem will give cash for guns during event this weekend

KERI BROWN/WFDD

The Winston-Salem Police Department will hold a gun buyback event this Saturday. It's part of a multilayered approach to reduce an increase in gun violence in the city over the past year and increase safety awareness.

Winston-Salem City Council is allotting $50,000 in federal pandemic relief funding for the gun buyback program. The event comes after eight people were shot in the city over this past weekend.

Anyone can turn in firearms for cash. The amount varies. It's $200 for assault rifles, $150 for handguns and $100 for long guns like shotguns and rifles.  Organizers say the drive-thru process is simple and easy. Just bring any unloaded gun in your vehicle's trunk or cargo area to the event and an officer will remove it.

“We are not going to ask your name," says Kira Boyd, public information officer for the Winston-Salem Police Department. "We are not trying to look at your tag and figure out who you are. This is 100 percent anonymous and we are not going to ask any questions.”

Boyd says other guns including pellet, BB, and black powder ammunition — even toy replica guns will be accepted — but no cash will be given for these items.

The event will take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. through 1 p.m. at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Leaf Lot on Shorefair Drive.

The city's last gun buyback was held in 2014. More than 300 guns were collected and vouchers were issued after the program ran out of money.

So far this year there have been 29 gun-related homicides in Winston-Salem.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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