By Shay Sokol

Members of the faith community joined NOPD Chief Serpas at a press conference in NOPD headquarters this afternoon to promote the Gun Buy Back Program tomorrow at 9:00am at the Little Zion Baptist Church on 4821 Earhart Blvd. No questions asked, anyone can turn in working handguns and receive $75 in cash, or assault rifles for $200. A safe way to get quick cash before Mother’s Day, as one pastor said.

After a prayer, Rev. Norwood Thompson thanked Chief Serpas for bringing the program back to New Orleans. While tomorrow will be the 12th annual event of the program, for the past three years it has been held in Jefferson Parish. Rev. Thompson said in the past events, the program has collected about 350 guns annually.

“If we get one gun, we call the program a success,” Rev. Thompson said.

At the press conference, Serpas gave numbers: Of the 199 murders last year, 180 of them were committed with a firearm. Crime is down compared to last year, Serpas said: there are 16% less murders and 5-7% less shootings in the first five months of this year compared to the first five months of last year. In 2011, 400 people were shot, which was down from 2010 and 2009.

Also at tomorrow’s event will be free health screenings, including HIV swabs, and free gunlocks for those who wish to keep their guns.

Rev. Thompson said he has signed a “confidentiality paper” that ensures the guns, once traded into the program, will be destroyed.

Chief Serpas, however, said police may check if the guns had “any exposure” in relation to past crimes, after they have been traded into the program.

The program has a budget of $10,000 to trade for guns tomorrow, all made possible through donations.

During the press conference at police headquarters, a 3-year-old girl was shot in her foot in St. Roch neighborhood. At 2:30pm, the child’s great aunt, 52-year-old Elaine Lee, was playing with a loaded gun at her home in the 2000 block of Franklin Avenue, when the gun went off. The 3-year-old sustained one gunshot wound to the left foot, and was taken to the hospital in stable condition. The child, from Houma, was in town to attend a funeral.

Later in the afternoon, an NOPD press release states Lee shot the child by accident, is now in police custody, and is charged with Negligent Injury and Child Endangerment.