Here's the article from WOWT dated Dec. 17th. The last sentence in this article will make you cry.
Fifty-five weapons, including 49 guns, were taken off the streets Saturday. Police say the third gun amnesty day of the year, held at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, yielded the best results.
"I think the community is stepping up to help us and I think we've gotten the message out that it is important to get these guns out of possibly, out of the wrong hands," said Omaha Police Lt. Shayna Ray.
Police believe every gun taken off the street through these amnesty programs is one less gun to worry about. Like the previous amnesty days, this was an anonymous, no questions asked situation.
Among the 49 firearms collected was a shotgun the owner was glad to get rid of. Spencer Schreiber had owned the shotgun half of his life and he said from the beginning it has been nothing but trouble. Saturday's gun amnesty day was the perfect way to get rid of a dangerous weapon.
“When I was about 12 years old I was hunting with my dad, closed it and luckily he was standing next to me and not in front of me, otherwise that could have been a bad situation. It never made me nervous, but i know that it made my mother nervous having it, just in case there was some kid who came over and decided, oh wow it's a gun and did something stupid."
The reasons behind the other 48 firearms handed over to police were probably as varied as the guns themselves. There were several sawed off shotguns, a number of long guns and several handguns. The one thing they have in common is that if put in the wrong hands, lives would be in danger.
Any gun has the potential to fall into the wrong hands. They are one of the first items burglars usually look for or maybe a guest finds your hidden firearm.
"People who are in your house and maybe you are not keeping track of the guns and people are taking guns through simple thefts," said Lt. Ray. "A lot of people don't even realize their guns are stolen."
In recent weeks, it seems as if Omaha's streets have become more dangerous and gun violence is a part of the equation, but with amnesty days police hope to lessen the potential. "Getting those weapons off the street, just one weapon off the street, we possibly could have saved lives," added Lt. Ray.
Police also collected 400 pounds of ammunition. The guns will be checked against stolen gun reports and officers will try to return the guns to their rightful owners. The rest of the guns will be melted down.
