Skilla Baby joined forces with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in hopes of helping his hometown of Detroit. The Geffen Records artist teamed with the nonprofit organization and city officials to host a firearms buyback.
The event, which includes a “felon-friendly” job fair and more, is scheduled to take place at The Icon in Detroit on Saturday (February 24).
“This Saturday I partnered with Judge Yancey And council President Sheffield to do a Gun Buy Back / Job Fair/ Record Expungement,” Skilla Baby wrote on Instagram. “THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST ONE EITHER WE WILL TRY TO GET AS MANY GUNS OFF THE STREETS AND CLEAN AS MANY RECORDS AS POSSIBLE EVERY YEAR IF ITS UP TO ME…. DETROIT VS EVERYBODY. BIG THANK YOU TO JUDGE YANCEY AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT FOR SUPPORTING ME AND HELPING MAKE THIS COME TOGETHER meet us @ THE ICON this Saturday @marysheffield @repyancey.”
The Brady Center’s Hannah Jones praised Skilla Bay for getting involved in the organization’s efforts to stop gun violence.
“We know the power of joining forces with a city, with influencers, with these icons,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “That’s how we got together. But it started with his vision, and he knew, and his folks knew, that we focused on safe storage.”
Attendees will receive $100 for handguns and nonautomatic guns. They can get $200 for semiautomatic and automatic rifles.
Skilla Baby wanted to do the buyback because he was tired of losing people to gun violence. The event was the latest example of his efforts to help the people of Detroit.
“I know with my influence, I can urge people to clean their records, get jobs and get guns off the street,” he said. “In the future, I want to do gun safety classes, fun stuff like that.”
Record expungement applications for the buyback event are available here.