Hamilton police Chief Eric Girt says it’s a way to “get guns off our streets and away from the hands of criminals.”
The Hamilton Police Service is joining other forces across the province, including Halton Regional Police and the OPP, in supporting a month-long gun amnesty in April.
The amnesty is for anyone who wishes to voluntarily surrender unwanted or illegally owned firearms, weapons, accessories or ammunition, without facing any weapons-related criminal code charges that might otherwise apply to such items.
The police service stresses that the amnesty does not apply to weapons that have been used in the commission of a crime.
Interested gun owners are urged not to bring items to a police facility, but instead, are to call to arrange for safe retrieval.
Hamilton police can be reached at 905-979-2724.
Halton Regional Police should be contacted at 905-825-4747.
Girt adds that “reducing the number of guns in Hamilton will result in a safer and more secure city.”
More than 1,700 firearms were turned over to Hamilton police during previous amnesties in 2006, 2014 and 2015.