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Yesterday Mayor Villaraigosa, in partnership with the LAPD and several faith-based community groups, hosted a Gun Buyback program that offered gift cards in exchange for the voluntary surrender of firearms. The event is being lauded as a success, with about 2,000 guns swapped out for $100 or $200 gift cards from Visa and Ralphs grocery stores.
One item, however, wasn't such a clear-cut trade-in. A man arrived at the Hollywood event location with a grenade, which necessitated having the bomb squad come to the scene to inspect and detonate the weapon, according to LA Now, who explain:
According to KTLA News, the device, which appeared to be a practice grenade painted to look like a live hand grenade, was blown up, and no one was hurt, authorities said. The man who brought the grenade to the buyback said it was given to him by his now-deceased neighbor as a souvenir of the Korean War. He declined to be identified but told reporters he felt bad about the whole event, according to KTLA.
The goal of the buyback program is to get weapons off the street in order to decrease gun violence in our communities.
