Policy

Hundreds Line Up for LA Gun Buyback Program

Though only a small number of them are from those large-scale assault categories people worry about

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More than 575 guns had been collected by mid-day Wednesday in L.A.'s gun buyback, as people waited for up to two hours to turn over firearms—no questions asked—in exchange for gift cards.

While police say the bulk of the guns are "mom and pop guns"—hunting rifles and shotguns—the haul includes a handful of larger-scale weapons, including at least 15 assault rifles.

At the Van Nuys buyback station—one of two in the city of Los Angeles—one of the first guns to be collected was a Bushmaster rifle that was the same type used at this month's massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Other guns collected included semiautomatic handguns typically associated with gang violence and street crime.