LAPD officer picks up a firearm from a customer's trunk/Olga Grigoryants

People turned in 950 handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault weapons in exchange for “Ralph’s” and “Food 4 Less” gift cards—no questions asked.

The anonymous sellers were able to exchange their weapons for $100 and $200 gift cards.

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Some people turned in up to six firearms, and LAPD officers said they were willing to give away as many gift cards as possible. 

“Every gun that is removed from the street is a gun that could potentially be used in a crime,” said LAPD Captain Anne Clark. “It’s our belief that fewer guns result in fewer acts of violence.” 

LAPD detective Richard Tompkins said they expected a bigger turn out this year due to recent shooting in Santa Barbara.  

He said events related to gang violence make people participate more because they “want to be a part of the solution.”

In 2012, the year of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, people brought 2000 firearms during a single gun buy back event, twice as many as usual.

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“It does play out a role on how many people will come down and participate,” said Detective Richard Tompkins. “People want to reach out and see if they can fix something. It’s a little bit broken out in our country.”

Officers, some working undercover, said they saw variety of guns on Saturday from antique revolvers to AK-47.  

“Either it’s legal or illegal; if people want to get rid of them, we’re going to be glad to take them,” said Officer Bruce Borihanh. 

At the parking lot near Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a team of police officers took the guns from arriving citizens. 

A black SUV stopped with two men in sunglasses and basketball caps. A deputy dressed in a t-shirt and shorts opened a trunk and picked up a black powder rifle and took it to the truck with black trash bins loaded with firearms. The car proceeded to the exit where two deputies handed the driver a gift card. 

Officers said it’s hard to predict who will show up to turn in their firearms.  

They’ve seen women, men and couples, but no children. Some even rode bikes to the gun exchange point. 

Detectives said they try to predict the model and the year of the car and whether they can correlate it with some sort of a firearm and there isn’t really any correlation. 

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Gwendolyn Stuart-Singleton, 65, an outspoken anti-gun activist, is a frequent attendant of the gun swap event, said she is happy to see people bringing in their guns. 

She lost her son in 2004 after he was shot in a front yard of his childhood friends in South L.A. She has been participating in the program ever since.

“If this program here would only take in five guns, that is five guns that mother or father don’t have to worry about being pointed at their child,” Stuart-Singleton said. 

She said she supports the program because it saves someone’s life. 

“I’m going to sleep good tonight without sleeping pill because I know over 200 hundred guns were turned in, and it saved somebody’s life tonight,” Stuart-Singleton said.  

Reach Staff Reporter Olga Grigoryants here.