Toronto police say they have collected 2,338 guns, including 707 handguns, as their latest gun buyback program comes to a close Friday night.
The total represents the highest number of firearms collected in a buyback over the past decade, with a 2008 program netting 2,000 guns and a 2013 campaign recovering 500 firearms.
Residents were offered $200 for each long gun or shotgun and $350 for each handgun turned in.
Last week, Toronto city council authorized up to $750,000 to compensate residents who turn in guns.
The latest gun buyback was authorized as part of a wider raft of measures taken by Toronto City Council in wake of the sustained increase in gun violence that plagued the city in 2018.
No one who turns in a gun will be charged with a crime
Each firearm is being tested against available forensic evidence to see if it was used in a crime. If it was not, it will be destroyed.
Anyone wishing to participate is urged to call police so an officer can come to their home and take the weapon with them.
Firearms will not be accepted if they are brought to police stations.
To be eligible for the buyback, firearms must be collected by 7 p.m. Friday night.
41 Division Insp. Paul MacIntyre has been tweeting images of guns collected by his officers.
