Sixteen communities participate in buyback and provide trigger locks on Saturday

New location for turning in guns in Worcester - City Welding and Sheet Fabrication - will crush guns while the owners watch

WHO:              Andrew Karson, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, UMass Memorial Medical Center

                        Michael Hirsh, MD, Worcester Division of Public Health and UMass Memorial Health Care

                        Joseph Early, Jr., District Attorney, Worcester County 

           Deputy Police Chief McGinn, Worcester

Police Chiefs from Auburn, Barre, Charlton, Dudley, Fitchburg, Leominster, Millbury, Northborough, Northbridge, Oxford, Rutland, Southbridge, Spencer, Webster, Westborough and Worcester police departments

WHAT:              Press Conference for annual Gun Buyback Program “Goods for Guns”

WHEN:             Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 10 a.m.

WHERE:           UMass Memorial Medical Center, Noonan Concourse, near the Emergency Department entrance, 55 N. Lake Street, Worcester

WHY:               The 17^th annual Goods for Guns buyback program now encompasses 24 cities and towns in Central Massachusetts as well as new programs in all of the New England states. The event also honors the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Newtown, CT that happened on December 14, 2012.  

Northborough, Shrewsbury, Westborough and Worcester residents can bring guns to the Worcester Police Station.  Other departments will be collecting guns at their local police stations.  Guns will be exchanged for gift cards, supplied by UMass Memorial Health Care, of varying amounts: $25 rifle or replica gun, $50 pistol and $75 semiautomatic weapon of any kind. Gun owners can pick up a free trigger lock from these same police stations.

Since the inception of the Goods for Guns program, more than 3,522 guns have been turned into law enforcement officials in Central Massachusetts.   

Parking for media: Valet Parking area, Hospital front entrance, University Campus.  Contact Debora Spano 401-258-3081 for escort to press conference.

Sites and times for the 2019 Goods for Guns Buyback