Citing citizen complaints, Farmington officials suspend gun buy-back
A gun buy-back event that was scheduled for this weekend in Farmington has been suspended by the city, Farmington officials announced late Wednesday.
A news release issued by the city at 4:54 p.m. Wednesday indicated the event, which was to have taken place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9 in the parking lot at the corner of North Municipal Drive and West Navajo Street in Farmington, would not be held. The release included a statement from City Manager Rob Mayes, who said, “Based on questions received from the public, (Farmington police) Chief (Steve) Hebbe and I determined it was apparent the program had not received enough advance education and community collaboration prior to scheduling this event.”
Mayes added, “We will continue to explore educational opportunities and options to assist the public with safely discarding unwanted firearms.”
Shanice Gonzales, the spokeswoman for the Farmington Police Department, said Hebbe had no comment on the suspension of the event. During an interview with The Daily Times earlier this week, Hebbe had characterized the event as an opportunity for those who had an unwanted gun in their household to dispose of it safely.
“An unwanted gun is nothing but a liability,” Hebbe said on Dec. 4. “This is for people who don’t know how to use a gun or there’s something going on in their home, and they don’t want a gun around. Anything we can do to help people get these out of their home is a victory.”
The Farmington Police Department was partnering with New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit organization that works to prevent firearm injury and death through public health, education, advocacy and public awareness, on the event. Those who surrendered an unwanted gun at the event were to be issued a gift card worth between $100 and $250.
The event was being funded by New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence at no expense to the city of Farmington. Hebbe said his department’s primary role was to make sure the gun surrenders were handled safely.
Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett said he and other members of the City Council had been contacted by citizens concerned about the event. After those concerns were conveyed to Mayes and Hebbe, Duckett said the decision was made that now was not the right time for the event to take place.
He said the police department’s decision to host the event wasn’t brought to the council in the first place.
“And, in the end, maybe it should have been,” he said.
Miranda Viscoli, the co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, said she was surprised and disappointed at the city’s course of action. She said Hebbe informed her Wednesday afternoon the event would not take place as scheduled.
She said she wanted to recognize Hebbe for his leadership and courage for initially having his department agree to hold the event with her organization. She said it was unfortunate that the city of Farmington decided that getting unwanted guns out of the community was not a worthwhile endeavor to keep citizens safer from gun violence.
Saturday’s event was to be the 19th such gun buy-back event New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence had held in the state. Similar events have taken place in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Las Cruces, Española and Taos since the organization was formed in 2016. More than 2,000 guns have been taken out of circulation and destroyed through the program, Viscoli said, 40% of which were semiautomatic or assault weapons.
The firearms that are surrendered at such events typically are destroyed with the use of a gun saw. The resulting scrap metal is forged into gardening tools by students at Robert F. Kennedy High School, a public charter school in Albuquerque.
Viscoli said her organization had received complaints from residents in other communities when those events were announced, but she said she had received no such feedback from anyone in Farmington.
“I haven’t heard any,” she said. “The complaints we heard were on social media. Normally, I have 10 or 15 people yelling at me about how horrible it is. But we haven’t heard any of that. We haven’t had one call, and we usually have between 10 and 15.”
Plans to hold a gun buy-back event in Farmington had been in the works since 2019, Hebbe and Viscoli told The Daily Times.
Viscoli said she had been told Saturday’s event had been cancelled, but the city’s news release said it had been suspended. Duckett said the fact that the event would not be held as scheduled this weekend will give the council time to deliberate on whether it is something that would benefit Farmington.
Duckett said he recognized that such a gun buy-back event likely would be a service that many Farmington-area residents would find useful, and he left open the possibility that it might be rescheduled.
“If we could the right time and the right group, it’s definitely a possibility, for sure,” he said.
Viscoli said she was worried that the city’s decision would negatively impact citizens who were counting on being able to surrender an unwanted gun in exchange for a gift card.
“It’s going to be hard for people who are expecting these gas cards and gift cards because they were expecting them right before Christmas,” she said.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.
This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Gun buy-back scheduled for Saturday in Farmington cancelled
