Fredericksburg's Gun Give-Back Program Could be Model for Statewide Program
A bill introduced this week by Josh Cole, Fredericksburg's representative in the House of Delegates, would establish a statewide firearm give-back program.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Since it was established in 2014, Fredericksburg City’s Gun Give-Back program has collected 242 unwanted firearms, City Councilor and Vice Mayor Chuck Frye announced at Tuesday’s meeting.
The firearms—which include hand guns, long guns, homemade shot guns, and other types, according to the program’s website—were donated to the program on a voluntary basis, accepted with no questions asked, and offered to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science to assist with research.
Fredericksburg is the only locality in Virginia to operate a voluntary gun give-back program, Frye said—but that might not be the case if a bill introduced on Tuesday by Del. Josh Cole, who represents the city as well as parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania, moves through the General Assembly and is signed into law.
The bill, HB 702, directs the Department of State Police to establish a statewide firearm give-back program and develop policies for the implementation of the program among local law-enforcement agencies—though participation in the program by local agencies would be voluntary.
It also directs the department to establish the Virginia Firearm Give-Back Fund to be used “solely for the purpose of development and implementation of the program.”
Frye asked that Council write a letter in support of HB 702, which is pending referral to a committee in the House of Delegates.
Frye, who spearheaded the gun give-back program as well as the “Murder Free Fredericksburg” initiative, also highlighted on Tuesday that the entire calendar year 2025 passed with “zero homicides” in the city.
Council’s first regular meeting of 2026—and the first with new members Joy Crump (Ward 2) and Matt Rowe (Ward 1)—lasted just 50 minutes.
Council approved on second read the release of $6 million that was held back from the current fiscal year’s budget in case revenue sources stagnated due to turmoil in the federal government. However, staff reported that all major revenues, except for hotel lodging tax, are trending at or above last fiscal year, and “at this juncture, we do not see any signs of a sharp downturn in local revenues due to the government shutdown or recent federal adjustments.”
About $1 million of the holdback is allocated for the school division.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”