As the Saratoga Springs City Center prepares to host its final arms fair this weekend after a more than 30-year run, elected officials announce plans for the city's first gun buyback program. As our Matt Hunter reports, some believe both events represent a shift in the way the city views firearms.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Saratoga's first gun buyback program will be held on Saturday, June 2 at the Unitarian Universalist Church. The event, which allows legal gun owners to get rid of their unwanted firearms, coincides with National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

"If we get one gun, we're successful. That's one gun off the streets," Mayor Meg Kelly said. "It will help all citizens in our area. It might help avoid needless accidents, injuries and tragedies."

"When I got the call from the mayor, we were all in," said Reverend Joe Cleveland, the church’s minister.

Participants will receive a $100 gift card they turn in. Funds for the event are coming from private donations. Mayor Kelly began making plans for the buyback shortly after taking office in January. Similar programs have been more common in Albany and Schenectady, where gun violence is more prevalent.

"Maybe not in Saratoga Springs, but in our surrounding communities, these incidents have happened, and we're just trying to be a little proactive creating these programs," Kelly said.

"It takes them out of the household. This will make Saratoga Springs a safer community," said Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Peter Martin, whose department will oversee the buyback with the help of the city police department.

Thursday's announcement was made at the Saratoga Springs City Center, the same venue where David Petronis has hosted hundreds of arms fairs over the past 34 years.

"Of course it's political,” Petronis said Thursday. “The buyback is the knee-jerk reaction everybody likes to do."

This weekend's sale will be Petronis' last in Saratoga, after city leaders voted in March to ban gun shows from the city center moving forward.

"I think it's kind of foolish what they're doing, getting rid of our gun show after 34 years,” Petronis said. “I mean, we've brought a lot of money up there and helped Saratoga grow."

Mayor Kelly acknowledges the canceling of the gun shows and the implementation of the buyback program, which she hopes to make an annual event, represent an ongoing shift in the city's view toward firearms.

"With the state of our country and what we're seeing throughout all the school shootings, this is a statement that we're trying to prevent that in our community," Kelly said.