Nearly 250 gun safes were given away Saturday at the Longmont Public Safety parking lot, mostly to folks who wanted a secure place to store their firearms to keep them away from children in their home, said Sarah Verasco, senior minister at United Church of Christ Longmont.
People also got the gun safes to prevent their guns from being stolen, Verasco said. In all three gun safe events sponsored by the church, volunteers have given away 573 safes, she said.
“Saturday’s event was 249 safes — we completely ran out and even gave away the demos,” Verasco said via email.
The response to the gun safe giveaway was a pleasant surprise, she said. “It is always a welcome surprise when you have people waiting in line more than an hour before the event is scheduled to start,” Verasco said. “Each event has surpassed the previous event in terms of safes given away and people participating.”
Most of the people wanting safes were from Longmont with a smattering of folks from Weld County, Boulder County and the Denver area, Verasco said. The event attracted 27 volunteers from the Heart of Longmont, Boulder County DA’s office and United Church of Christ Longmont, she said.
The safes were bought by United Church of Christ Longmont, which provided $25,000 in seed money, Verasco said. In partnership with the Longmont Community Foundation, the church has received more than $50,000 in donations from the Longmont community, Verasco said.
The next gun safe giveaway will be Nov. 11 on Veterans Day — after the parade in Roosevelt Park, she said.
United Church of Christ Longmont will be hosting a gun buyback on Oct. 29 in the church parking lot, 1500 Ninth Ave., Verasco said.
