Gun buyback program to end

LUDINGTON — The Starfish Buyback Program (SBP), a local voluntary effort to reduce the number of certain firearms in the Mason County area, will be ending on January 15, 2025.

The program was activated in the fall of 2023 by community members from the Mason County.

Named after the legendary starfish tale, the program was based on the belief that no matter how small or futile an action may appear, any effort to save precious lives really does matter.

“We decided to launch the Starfish Buyback Program as a voluntary, privately funded program that provides grocery gift cards for each eligible assault-style weapon anonymously turned in to the Ludington Police Department,” said David Masten, member of the SBP Committee.  “We made sure that this buyback program for assault weapons did not threaten anyone’s right to have a gun for self-protection or hunting. We knew that assault weapons are not used for those purposes, and that they were originally manufactured as weapons of war. They are designed for destroying their intended targets, not for hunting.”

Participants in the program bring their unloaded weapon to Ludington Police Department where an officer determines if the weapon is eligible for the SBP (based on the definition of assault-style weapons in the 1994 federal assault weapons ban). If it is eligible, the officer will remove the weapon and ammunition from the vehicle and present the person with a $600 in Meijer Gift Cards for each weapon accepted.

“No one wants to think that our local schools or public and private gatherings are at risk of a mass shooting,” said Brenda Reeber, chairperson for the SBP Committee, “but neither did virtually all of the communities that have experienced these horrible events think it would happen in theirs. We still believe that the only effective way to prevent a mass shooting from happening here or in any community is to take significant proactive action.”

After the SBP ends, all remaining gift cards will be given to a local food bank program and any funds in the SBP account will be donated to statewide non-profit gun safety programs.

For more information, click here.

____________________

Please Support Local News

Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news. 

The easiest way is to sign up for an automatic monthly payment on Paypal. Click this link.

Alternative methods:

• We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).

We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.

If you would like to support MCP/OCP but do not wish to receive daily emails, please consider sending a contribution to any of the above methods or pay by Venmo (@masoncountypress).

_____

This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2024, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.

As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.

Please consider helping to fund local news. Mason County Press and Oceana County Press are available for free thanks to the generous support of our advertisers and individuals. Three ways to help us: Venmo: @MasonCountyPress; Paypal: MasonCountyPress@gmail.com; Mail a check to PO BOX 21, Scottville, MI 49454.

fb.com/stars