Organizers hosted a community empowerment toy gun exchange on Jefferson Avenue

BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Back to Basics Ministries and Buffalo Fathers hosted a toy gun exchange Friday night as a way to combat gun violence in the city of Buffalo.

Any child or teenager who turned in a toy gun received a non-violent toy in return.

7-year-old Noah Jones is one of the many children who came to Jefferson Avenue.

“Now I have a basketball and I’m happy,” he says.

His mother told 7 News reporter Yoselin Person that this was a big step for him.

“They were all his favorites. He didn’t really want to give them away at first,” the mother says. “But when he realized how much of an impact it would have on giving them back, other toys were an option.”

Noah’s sister, 10-year-old Nylah Jones, says she is proud of her brother’s courage.

She would like to see more events like this happen in her community.

“The more that doesn’t happen, the more it won’t continue to happen, because I don’t want my brother to grow up and shoot,” she says. “That’s not what I want. I want my brother to grow up and be a good person. A person who will take care of his children when he has children.”

Organizers say they are happy to see more children like Noah joining the movement.

“Noah was really hesitant to turn in his toy gun. He really didn’t want to do it, and a lot of our kids don’t want to do it because they feel powerful when they’re holding a gun,” said Lenny Lane, president of Buffalo Fathers. “We need to end gun violence, so we need to desensitize them.”

“But we want to say that guns are not toys. As they grow up and accumulate, it’s easier for them to move on to the real hardware, the ones with bullets that actually kill, so we’re changing that,” said Pastor James Giles of Back to Basics Ministries.