Mercer County Church Hosting Gun Buyback Next Month

A Trenton church will play host to a two-day gun buyback program next month, Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick and Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced this week. The Friendship Baptist Church on Perry Street in Trenton will host a state-led “Guns for Cash” event on Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29.

Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day, residents can turn in up to three firearms of any type “no questions asked” and receive as much as $200 per weapon. Police officers will be stationed at the church to collect and secure the guns.

Residents will be paid $100 for turning in a rifle or shotgun, $120 for a handgun or revolver, and $200 for an assault weapon. Law enforcement firearms experts will be on hand at each location to assist with the valuation and securing of turned-in weapons.

The Attorney General’s Office is paying for the gun buyback with forfeiture funds obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice, the State Police, and the county prosecutor’s office.

“Again, this buyback is a ‘no questions asked’ event. It is a truly collaborative effort being carried out by law enforcement, government, the faith community and others whose sole objective is to have safer cities, safer counties and a safer state,” Porrino said. “It’s difficult to quantify prevention, but it certainly stands to reason that a gun that no longer exists – a gun that has been turned in and melted down – can never be stashed in a vacant building and used as a community gun. It can never be stolen in a burglary and used later in a violent crime, and it can never fall into the hands of a curious child and cause the death of that child, a playmate, or some other innocent person.”

The program is one of three that will be held on those dates. The others are in Camden and Essex counties. Residents with questions about the buyback effort can call the Attorney General’s Citizen Services unit at 609-984-5828 or visit www.nj.gov/guns.

In addition to the buybacks, the Attorney General and the Acting U.S. Attorney announced an enhanced commitment to coordinate state and federal efforts to prosecute gun crimes aggressively, with a particular focus on the “Triggerlock” program.

Under “Triggerlock” high-priority gun offenders arrested by municipal police or state authorities are referred for prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office under federal law. This can carry lengthier prison terms, including potential penalties of 15 years without parole to life for the most serious gun offenses.

“Our joint efforts to take guns off the street – whether it is through the Attorney General’s buy-back program or our coordinated prosecution of firearms offenses and violent gangs – demonstrate our shared commitment to use every strategy, investigative technique, and resource to protect the communities we serve,” Fitzpatrick said. “Attorney General Porrino, Colonel Fuentes, Director Ambrose, Director Parrey and Chief Thomson have used the latest technology, intelligence and analytics to develop investigative strategies that officers, detectives and federal agents carry out on the streets of Newark, Trenton and Camden. These efforts by local, state and federal investigators have significantly weakened violent gangs like MS-13, the Grape Street Crips and the Sex, Money Murder Bloods. Although there is much work to be done, because of their leadership the state-federal partnership has never been stronger, and because of their vision the people of New Jersey have never been better served.”

They said that while gun buybacks present an important opportunity to remove dangerous guns from circulation, law enforcement at all levels will continue to work hard to arrest violent offenders and criminals who commit crimes with guns. New Jersey has some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, and the crime of unlawful possession of a firearm is a second-degree offense under state law punishable by between five and 10 years in prison.

Moreover, through continued partnership among federal, state, and local counterparts, including participation in the “Triggerlock” program, the Acting U.S. Attorney and the Attorney General pledged to make use as appropriate of even stricter penalties available for many gun crimes under federal law.

“Through these joint initiatives, we aim to remove from our streets the most dangerous offenders driving gun crime in our communities as well as the guns themselves,” Porrino said. “I am grateful to Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick for his commitment to collaborating on this law enforcement priority, which will make the people of New Jersey safer.”

He also pointed to recent changes in the State’s bail system that enables prosecutors to more readily keep those accused of gun crimes, as well as certain repeat offenders, off the streets until trial.

In May, the state Supreme Court approved additional changes to the overhauled bail system whereby defendants charged with a range of gun and weapons offenses will now face a presumption of pre-trial detention. In each case, the judge will still have the final say.

Simply put, the changes mean that for many people who persist in endangering New Jersey communities by making guns and gunplay a part of their lives, the next arrest could be a case of: “No Bail. Go Directly to Jail.”

The Attorney General also pointed to continuation of the state’s intensified, targeted anti-violence enforcement efforts in urban centers, and the excellent firearms forensic work being done at the State Police Tech Center in Hamilton as other examples of the broader effort to combat gun violence.

Porrino noted that, at the tech center, State Police investigators – aided by a federal ATF data base known as the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) – are analyzing guns and learning of their possible links to unsolved crimes more quickly, and more effectively, than ever before.

Patch file photo