A weekend gun buyback event hosted by San Mateo County police and sheriff departments recovered 223 firearms, including five assault weapons and two ghost guns, which are untraceable.

In the coming days, after their serial numbers are recorded, the guns will all be taken to a recycling facility and smashed inside a car.

Guns collected during the San Mateo County gun buyback event are displayed on a table and inside cages on Dec. 9, 2023. The haul included five assault weapons and two untraceable “ghost guns.” (San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)

The program is funded in part by Citizens for San Mateo County Gun Buyback and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. In 2016, San Mateo voters approved the Measure K half-cent sales tax extension, which has helped fund the buyback program for four years. This is the last of eight buybacks from that grant cycle.

Those who turned in guns during the voluntary event were awarded up to $200 cash. To date, the program has collected more than 2,600 firearms, according to the sheriff’s office.

“We have guns coming from people from all walks of life,” said Sgt. Javier Acosta of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. “Some of the guns are from people that inherited them, who don’t want to use them. Most of them are handguns.”

The biannual event also has an educational component, where law enforcement and staff are on hand to answer questions and concerns about guns safety. It is uncertain whether the program funding will be renewed.

On Nov. 3, San Mateo County released on its website a Notice of Funding Opportunity, soliciting proposals for the use of Measure K funds, with applications due Jan. 5.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.