By Patrick McGroarty
Reporter Staff

Mayor Thomas Menino stood beside officers from the Boston Police Department and community leaders on Tuesday morning atop Meetinghouse Hill to announce the return of a citywide gun buyback program that will reward anyone willing to surrender a handgun with a $200 Target gift certificate.

Between June 12 and July 14 city residents will be able to dispose of operational firearms at all district police stations and eight additional drop- off locations, including three in Dorchester, as part of the Aim For Peace initiative.

"The gun buyback strategy is the latest initiative put forward by my Strategic Crime Council," said Menino. "We come together in the spirit of unity to address the violence that's threatening our neighborhoods."

Menino founded the Strategic Crime Council in January to combat the widely publicized rise in violent crime that has crept across the city in the past year. The Aim For Peace buyback is the latest facet of the council's six-pronged agenda to be unveiled by the mayor. Other council goals include promoting a regional and national legislative agenda, partnerships with healthcare agencies, educational programming, and pressing for changes to the judicial system.

Another weapon in the mayor's new arsenal is an email and text message system called the Alert Network, designed to bring the BPD in closer contact with businesses and private citizens. Through four individually tuned list serves, the Alert Network will keep residents and business owners in the loop on crime threats and ongoing investigations in their area and create an open channel for providing tips and information to the police department.

The gun buyback model, first implemented in Baltimore in 1975, was adopted by the city of Boston in 1993 at the height of another unsettling crime wave. Approximately 3,000 weapons were collected by the buyback over three years, though not everyone saw a correlation between the program and the drop in crime often called the "Boston Miracle." Critics have said that the guns collected, many of which were rifles and shotguns, were not the type of weapons used in violent crimes, and worried that the $50 cash reward for turning in a weapon could be used to buy new guns.

In the upcoming buyback, all firearms will be accepted, but only working handguns (not rifles or shotguns) will be exchanged for a $200 gift card. At the press conference, BPD Deputy Superintendent Darrin Greeley explained that while those who dropped off weapons would not be asked to identify themselves, each weapon would be analyzed in a BPD crime lab to determine whether it had been involved in a previous crime. If a weapon were found to have connections to an ongoing investigation, the BPD would use all the normal channels to continue the investigation.

"We understand this is not a cure-all program, that it's not going to be a one-stop fix for all the gun violence problems in the city," said Greeley.

BPD spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll added that buyback organizers were committed to spreading word of the buyback program among youths and city residents who may have access to the kinds of handguns often used in violent crime.

"We're working hard to spread a message that violence is not to be tolerated," said Driscoll. "In addition to local newspapers, Clear Channel has donated billboards, the MBTA has donated placards on subways and buses, and local radio will be running public service announcements."

Emmet Folgert, head of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, said he found the gun buyback model especially useful for parents or authority figures anxious for a non-confrontational means of removing a gun from a teenager's possession.

"It's helpful to people like me personally because if someone wants to give up a gun, I have a structured way to do that," said Folgert. "Now with one phone call I'll know what to do and how to do it."

Menino was joined at the Tuesday morning announcement by a number of community leaders who work with at-risk youth, including Denise Gonsalves, executive director of Cape Verdean Community UNIDOS. While Gonsalves said she was not initially involved in planning the buyback, her presence was a reminder of the violence that has claimed the lives of several Cape Verdeans in recent weeks.

"I stand in front of you today not just as the director of CVC Unidos but as a proud resident of Dorchester who is tired of going to funerals, who is sick and tired of gun violence," said Gonsalves. "This is an opportunity for us as members of the community to take action."

Gonsalves added that while the buyback is not the only step necessary to reducing gun violence, each gun removed from the neighborhood was a step in the right direction.

In addition to the neighborhood's district police stations, drop-offs may be made at the United Church of Christ or Ella J. Baker House on Washington Street or to City Links on Bowdoin Street.

A private exchange can also be arranged by calling 1-888-GUNTIPS. Information on the Aim for Peace program is also available on the city of Boston's website at cityofboston.gov/aimforpeace.