L.A. Police’s ‘Tickets for Guns’ Promotion Yields 412 Weapons : Law enforcement: Officials call the program a success. But few, if any, gang members turn in firearms.

Even though the vast majority of those who gave up their weapons during a “Tickets for Guns” promotion were law-abiding citizens, Los Angeles police said Tuesday that they consider the effort a success and are considering doing it again.

“If we get weapons off the street, we’ve accomplished something,” said Capt. Paul Pesqueira of the 77th Street Division.

Chief Willie L. Williams is expected to look at the results of the program, which yielded 412 weapons over the five-day period ending Dec. 23, before deciding whether to sponsor a similar effort.

Sponsored by KTTV/Fox Television with the help of Ticketmaster, the “Tickets for Guns” promotion offered passes to shows and sporting events in exchange for weapons. Some police said the promotion was a good start at getting guns off the street, considering that it was started with little advance publicity. The program was announced Dec. 17, just one day before participating churches threw open their doors to the gun owners.

Exchange programs in San Francisco and Oakland produced 177 guns and 68 guns, respectively. Those promotions took place on one day and in one place, however, while the Los Angeles effort lasted five days and used six churches as drop-off sites.

The total number of weapons exchanged here included 110 rifles, 251 handguns, two assault rifles, and 49 shotguns. Our Lady of the Valley in Canoga Park collected 125 guns, the largest number turned in at any of the churches.

“We got anything from .22 rifles and handguns to military-style carbines,” said Officer Peter Vanderburgh of the West Valley Division. One person, he said, brought in a pre-World War I Chinese musket.

People came from as far away as Palmdale and Oxnard. Most were younger than 50, male and Anglo. Vanderburgh said one man brought in an Uzi-type assault weapon that he had purchased for $350. He got two tickets to a Janet Jackson concert in the trade.

“I had a feeling he was going to scalp them” to recover more of his investment, Vanderburgh said. He didn’t ask whether the gun had been used illegally. “Our policy was not to ask questions,” Vanderburgh said.

Even without asking questions, it was plain to him that most of the people turning in their guns were not criminals who would otherwise be pointing them at people. “Very few, if any” gang members “turned in their weapons,” Vanderburgh said.

But Pesqueira said he believes that at least some of the weapons exchanged could be used for criminal purposes. At least one sawed-off shotgun was turned in. “They’re not used in self-protection,” Pesqueira said.

And even if most of the weapons came from law-abiding citizens, getting them out of homes where a child could fire one off accidentally, or where a thief could steal it, was worthwhile. “All these weapons could have ended up in the wrong hands,” he said.

Twenty-five guns were turned in at Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Pacoima, the second site in the Valley where weapons could be exchanged.