Philly gun buyback honors Moses Walker

In the early morning of Aug. 18, 2012, Philadelphia Police Officer Moses Walker, Jr., was shot and killed in an attempted robbery just after he clocked out from work. The Deliverance Evangelistic Church in North Philadelphia, the church that the 40-year-old Walker attended, held a gun buyback event last Saturday where Philly residents each received a $100 ShopRite gift card for turning in firearms.

Dot Newton, Executive Director of the Deliverance Community Development Corp., said that it was powerful for parishioners to hold the gun buyback program in the very church Walker used to prepare for Sunday service after his shift at work ended. "We were getting guns out of the community where he was killed," she said. North Philadelphia has one of the highest crime rates in the city.

Newton noted that 417 firearms, including shotguns, rifles and Glocks, were turned in at the June 29, 2013, event. She added that some of the guns were still loaded. She believes the gift cards were an important incentive for residents to turn in the guns, especially with ShopRite being involved. "In this present economy, I think it is a good thing to be able to use cards to go purchase food for your family," she said. "So we get guns off the street and they get meals on the table."

East coast supermarket collective ShopRite, owned and operated by Wakefern Food Corp., sponsored the "Goods for Guns" event organized by the development corporation, the PhillyRising Collaborative, the Philadelphia Police Department and community politicians.

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