Westminster Leaders Reject Voluntary Gun Turn-In Event as Gun Control

Despite the Westminster police chief's support of a gun turn-in program, the town's Common Council rejected the idea, with one councilman saying the program amounts to "going down the whole gun control path."

Westminster Police Chief Jeffrey Spaulding told the council Monday night that he had been asked by the state attorney general's office to participate in a statewide gun turn-in program along with other Maryland municipalities.  The program would be voluntary.

"This is simply a gun turn-in program, an opportunity for people who have firearms to rid themselves of them, to turn them over to the police," Spaulding said. 

Councilman Tony Chiavacci objected to the program.

"In my opinion that's just going down the whole gun control path," he said. "There are other places people can go to turn them in. I don't think these programs get any firearms that could be used in the commission of a crime." 

Councilman Damian Halstad said a gun turn-in program wouldn't be successful in Westminster. 

"It’s a calculated effort to encourage people to relinquish their guns and I don’t think it’s a good idea for the government to have a monopoly on guns," Halstad said. "To that extent this is not the kind of community where it’s going to be successful."

Spaulding said the objective of such a program goes beyond ridding the community of firearms that could be used for criminal purposes.

"I would not expect it to be a well attended event but I do see value in it," the police chief said. "We had an accidental shooting [in Carroll County] just a few weeks ago."

Councilman Robert Wack said he wasn't as strongly opposed as Chiavacci but that citizens might take the program as an effort toward gun control.

"I agree with (Chiavacci's) sentiment that these are the kinds of statewide and national issues that we would do best to steer clear of because our work is focused on the nuts and bolts of keeping the lights on, keeping roads clear," Wack said.

"I’m of mixed mind, I don’t feel strongly enough about it either way."

Spaulding said that hosting the event would likely require the time of six officers for about four hours. He said when people attend, officers retrieve guns from citizens' cars and take possession of them with no questions asked. Later, police destroy the firearms.

Mayor Kevin Utz said he had a problem with spending city police money for a program initiated by the state. 

"I agree with [Councilman] Chiavacci for this reason—it requires staff hours that we're not going to get reimbursed for," Utz said. "The attorney general is not throwing any money our way."

Several council members and Spaulding agreed that citizens can contact police anytime and turn in unwanted firearms. Citizens sometimes want to discard weapons that are broken or inherited and not wanted, or because of the age of the weapon, officials said. 

In November 2011, the nearby town of Sykesville hosted a gun turn-in program and more than 30 residents turned in guns and 35 pounds of ammunition at that event.

Cpl. Dave Lewis of the Sykesville Police Department told Patch following the event that most of the firearms collected in that gun turn-in were in poor condition and would be very dangerous to try to fire.

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