When the clergy and lay leaders of Holy Cross, Homewood, hoped to remove a few firearms from their neighborhood, they never expected what would come from the community or the media.
The MLK Day buyback began with what police described as an “unlikely” goal of collecting 100 guns. The initial $5,000 in privately raised funds was depleted in the first 45 minutes, but still, the guns poured in and so did additional financial donations. Nearly 150 firearms were eventually surrendered, including two semi-automatic rifles.
Priest-in-charge the Rev. Torrey Johnson, Outreach Minister Guy Brown, Senior Warden Sylvia Wilson, and longtime parishioner Dr. Leon Haley were quoted extensively in the local media, by CNN, and even interviewed on the BBC.
Holy Cross considers this to be its First Annual MLK Gun Buyback, and has heard from other churches that want to join in the effort. Donations for the buyback fund continue to be accepted through the Episcopal Lutheran Alliance, elallianceinc.org.
Here’s a sampling of the recent coverage:
- Local church organizing gun buyback program (KDKA video)
- Church gun buyback in honor of MLK runs out of money in first hour (CNN)
- Senior Warden Sylvia Wilson interviewed on “Up All Night” (BBC audio)
- Nearly 150 guns turned in during Holy Cross MLK gun buyback event (New Pittsburgh Courier)
- Tony Norman: the radical spirit of the Homewood gun buyback (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)