South Side gun buy-back: ‘Getting them out of your house can save lives’

St. Sabina Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood held a gun turn-in program Saturday, collecting everything from BB guns to hunting rifles with no questions asked.

A few dozen people lined up outside the South Side church, where Chicago police officers collected weapons in exchange for gift cards. People received $100 for every gun turned in, and $10 for every BB gun, air gun or replica.

“Any time you take a gun off the street, it’s a gun that’s not going to be used to shoot or harm somebody,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger said. “We’re absolutely saving lives.”

Jake Wittich/Sun-Times

By noon, the church had retrieved almost 100 guns. The last gun buy-back event, held in April, collected about 400 guns.

Pfleger said the trade-in events allow people to get rid of guns anonymously without the stress of turning them in at a police station. The church also collects guns year-round.

“Maybe someone in your house has a gun that you didn’t know about, but found it and want to turn it in,” Pfleger said. “Or there could be an adult or young person that’s been involved in stuff or had a gun who wants to make a change.”

Jake Wittich/Sun-Times

Gayle Blake, of Oak Park, traded in her dad’s old hunting rifle that she had hidden in her home.

“The kids never knew it was there, but I was concerned about having it laying around the house,” Blake said. “It’s a big relief to turn it in and have it out.”

Hosea Stevenson, of Auburn Gresham, turned in an old gun he inherited from his grandfather, who brought it back from World War II. He had been planning on getting rid of it, but the gift card incentive motivated him to finally turn it in.

“I don’t want the gun to get into the wrong hands and have somebody get killed or hurt really bad from it,” Stevenson said. “I just don’t want those things around when someone could get hurt.”

Jake Wittich / Sun-Times

Lawndale resident John Murry turned in a hand-me-down gun he said had been lying away around the house. He said the buy-back could help curb the city’s gun violence, but more needs to be done.

“The basic problem is I don’t see any young people here,” Murry said. “This will help a little bit, but it’s not going to solve the problem.”

Pfleger said the solution is to invest more in the communities most affected by gun violence.

“Look at the 15 neighborhoods in Chicago where we have the most violence and you’ll see the same threads: double-digit unemployment, under-funded and under-performing schools, the most people coming back from incarceration with no help, lack of mental health access, high poverty rates and no economic development,” the activist priest said. “Make the South and West sides like the North Side to equal the playing field across the board.”

He added that until strong federal gun laws exist, people in Chicago will still be able to easily get guns despite city restrictions.

Jake Wittich / Sun-Times

Pamela Bosley, a member of St. Sabina and the anti-violence initiative Purpose Over Pain, stood near the church’s exit, thanking people for turning in their guns as they left.

Bosley’s son, Terrell Bosley, was shot and killed at the age of 18 in 2006 while helping a friend carry drums into a church at 116th and Halsted. She said it was jarring to see all the weapons, but she was happy to see them off the street.

“Every single gun can make a difference. Getting them out of your house can save lives, and the goal of this is to save as many lives as we can,” Bosley said.

More than 1,800 people have been shot in Chicago this year.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.