From Kentucky to Pittsburgh, gun violence has been a regular feature of the news over the last two weeks. To mitigate some gun violence, the Glendale Police Department hosted its first “Anonymous Gun Buyback” event on Saturday, Oct. 27, in hopes to ensure safety on the streets of Glendale.

The goal of the event was to reduce the availability of unwanted firearms in the community by providing an opportunity for the safe disposal of firearms. The Anonymous Gun Buyback events also reduce the number of guns in homes that are subject to be stolen and used by criminals.

The most inviting aspect of this initiative is the fact that the entire process is anonymous. No identification is needed to further the process, which gives a peace of mind to those giving up their guns.

“People drive up, they keep the weapons in the trunk, open [it] for us. We make sure that the gun is safe, not loaded,” said Dan Settles, GPD spokesman. “We never ask them for their name, ID’s, we don’t ask anything. We just give them their gift certificate, and off they go.”

The Police Department offered a $100 gift card for each handgun, shotgun and rifle, and $200 gift card for assault weapons as classified in the State of California. A total of 101 weapons were collected. GPD promised that these would be destroyed. Upon receiving the guns, the Police Department runs the serial numbers to check for lost or stolen status and if applicable, they will be returned to the legal owners. All other firearms collected during the event, will be destroyed in compliance with state law requirements.

“There were very expensive guns, nice collectibles, it’s kind of a shame that we have to destroy [them], but we want to keep the integrity of the program together,” Settles emphasized. “We want people to feel comfortable knowing that we are going to do what we said we would.”

Settles was not the only one to regret the loss of these classic weapons. Zareh Sinanyan, Glendale City Mayor also showed his enthusiasm for these.

“Too bad that the classic guns must be melted down with the rest of them,” Sinanyan noted in a Facebook post.

This is an integral part of the strategy to cut gang and gun violence in the city. It’s not only about crimes, but also suicides and tragedies.

Starting in large cities, the gun buyback movement has gained lots of attention and popularity all around, including Los Angeles. In cosmopolitan cities, the turnout of similar events reaches tens of thousands of guns being collected, including a large amount of assault weapons.

This further explains the seriousness of the gun issue in the country. What is known to be a way of self-defense, can be found in the wrong hands. It can one day end up in the hands of an angry teenager, who is upset at his classmates or teachers. Perhaps in the hands of a small child, treating it as a toy. Maybe video game enthusiasts who are emotionally unstable and want to try out their games in person on an actual crowd. These are just a few scenarios from the actual picture, where we have seen the misuse of guns.

Unfortunately, we see such events on our news feeds far too often. This is when tragedy becomes inevitable. As Russian author Anton Chekhov implied, if there is a rifle hanging on the wall, it absolutely will go off.