Gun Like One Used in Robert Kennedy's Death Turned in to Johnston Police

Some Johnston residents chose to clean house Friday by giving their guns, ammo and knives to the Johnston police department to dispose of safely.

The event was held Friday afternoon at the station on Merle Hay Road.

At 3 p.m. Friday, Johnston police had collected seven guns, including a revolver like the one Sirhan Sirhan used to kill Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said Terry Dippold, a community service officer for the Johnston Police Department.

Dippold researched the gun after it was turned in and found that guns like that were manufactured between 1901 and 1941.

Most of the guns turned in were older guns that residents no longer wanted. As he turned in a shotgun and rifle, one man said his father taught him how to shoot with those guns.

What happens to the guns that are turned in? KCCI.com reports that the guns collected this week will first be taken to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Crime Lab, which is trying to collect every make and model of every gun that's been manufactured.

The collection has more than 1,700 long guns and nearly 2,400 handguns, the TV station reports. The DCI uses them for parts, to solve crimes, for training and occasionally during sting operations.

Guns that are not needed for the DCI's collection can be sent to other collections around the country, KCCI says. Some of the hunting rifles can be auctioned off by the Department of Natural Resources and some of the guns are repurposed for law enforcement. The rest are destroyed.