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Winston-Salem will host a second gun buyback event

An officer checks in a gun at a Winston-Salem buyback event in November. Image courtesy: WSPD

After hosting a successful gun buyback event in November, the city of Winston-Salem is holding a second event this Saturday. 

The city-wide gun buyback programs are part of an effort to reduce gun violence and boost community safety. Residents can anonymously turn in firearms with no questions asked and receive cash payments between $100 and $200.

According to a news release, funding comes from a portion of the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Relief Fund, which authorizes recipients to spend some of the money on efforts to reduce violence.

Winston-Salem has experienced a significant rise in homicides, which police say jumped by about 50 percent last year compared to 2020.

Officials deemed the first buyback event an overwhelming success, with over 360 guns collected within two hours.

Northeast Ward Councilmember Barbara Hanes Burke says she requested the second buyback based on that success.

The drive-thru gun buyback event will take place this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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