July 5, 2000, 9:20PM

City gun buyback program yields eight stolen weapons

By S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

Eight of the 762 guns turned in during a gun buyback program conducted in May are stolen
weapons, Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford said Wednesday.

Testing is under way to determine whether any of the hundreds of weapons had been used in
crimes, Bradford said.

The handguns, rifles and shotguns were collected by police May 6.

The buyback program, dubbed “Operation Safe and Secure,” was so popular it was forced to
close early at one of its four locations.

“There were people who left with guns, because we ran out of certificates,” Bradford said.

The program, Houston’s first venture into the buyback business, was funded by the Department of
Housing and Urban Development and companies including Foley’s, Oshman’s, Gallery Furniture
and Kroger, who offered $100 gift certificates in return for weapons.

Bradford said he would like to repeat the operation if he can get the funding. He said HUD is
considering the possibility.

Part of the program’s appeal is that those turning in weapons are allowed to remain anonymous, so
police have no idea who turns in the stolen weapons, Bradford said.

“The goal was to get guns out of homes, not to arrest people,” he said.

The eight stolen firearms turned up during a check of each weapon through the Texas Crime
Information Center, where stolen weapons are identified by serial number.

Now, Bradford said, each weapon will be test-fired and checked through the department’s
DrugFire computer.

DrugFire, a system developed in 1991 for the FBI by Mnemonic Systems Inc., takes a picture of
the flat face of a casing and compares it with the spent hulls found at thousands of crime scenes.