Politics & Government

Norwalk Police Announce Gun Buy-Back Program

The program will take place the first weekend in February.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik, during a press conference on school safety improvements, announced additional efforts were being taken in the community abroad, including a gun buy-back program that would be coming in February.

"On February 2, the police department will be conducting a gun buy-back using funds that were donated to the department," Kulihawk said. "I'm confident and hopeful as a result of the press release, we'll get more donations to keep the program going. 

"Stamford [Police have] conducted an excellent program. We borrowed a lot of what they've done and revised it a bit to fit our needs, but we're modeling it after what Stamford has done, which has been effective," he said. 

Find out what's happening in Norwalkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kulhawik said the program would be staggered with Stamford's program, so that the efforts of both departments would have maximum effect. 

"We're going to be running it in conjunction with them so we don't interfere with each other. They're running buy-backs the next two Saturdays and then we'll have one, the Saturday after that. 

Find out what's happening in Norwalkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kulhawik said Stamford efforts conducting gun buy-backs have proven successful because of involvement from the citizens there, and Norwalk would like to be involved in a similar program by utilizing interest in the community. 

"Basically it will be similar to what Stamford is doing. We'll be issuing Visa gift cards to people who bring in functioning weapons, depending on the type of weapon. We'll also be taking non-functioning weapons, however there won't be any gift cards for that.

Kulhawik said even a small turnout is better than not taking the effort to host the event.

We're hopeful that will be effective in taking some guns off the street, even if it's one or two, it's still something. It's a gun that can't get stolen or can't get lost or sold to someone else. We're looking forward to getting that going."

The chief said more details and specifics on what would be accepted during the program would be forthcoming next week. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here