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The Whitman Plaza ShopRite (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Philadelphia is starting the year with a gun buyback program designed to remove illegal guns from city streets.
In exchange for handguns or semi-automatic weapons, officials will offer a $100 gift certificate to Brown’s ShopRite markets. Anti-violence advocate Bilal Qayuum said Monday that removing handguns and semi-automatic firearms from the city with no strings attached is crucial to reducing a homicide rate that soared to a 30-year high in 2020. Nearly 500 people were murdered in 2020 and more than 2,240 were shot a 40% increase over 2019.
City Councilmember Curtis Jones said they will judge the event’s success by the lives saved in 2021.