HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Harrisburg’s first gun buyback was held Saturday, hours after shots rang out elsewhere in the city.

The hope for the buyback is to reduce gun violence.

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Harrisburg Bureau of Police Commissioner Thomas Carter said the event had to be shut down four hours early because of an overwhelming repsonse.

Over 100 firearms were turned in — handguns, semi-automatic weapons, and revolvers, to name a few — all brought to the Kappa Omega fraternity house. The weapons were turned in no questions asked.

Carter said some people turned in up to 10 weapons.

They started with 50 $100 gift cards and had to go back to the store to purchase more twice.

In total, 86 were given out.

Some people who stopped by after gift cards ran out turned in their guns anyway, though other buybacks will be scheduled in the near future.

“I thought we may get like 10 or 20 guns and that was it but we had a long line of people out there in the hot sun, you know, turning guns in,” Carter said, “because people are tired of gun violence.”

“I think the community knows that they want to get guns off the street of Harrisburg and just in our local community and I think it just again just galvanizes the community around safety for our young people, safety in our homes, safety in our streets,” Jesse Rawls, of the Kappa Omega fraternity, said. “I think that’s the big message we are hearing today.”

Another buyback is being planned for August. A date has not yet been set.

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