UPDATE: Buyback Event Takes 428 Guns Off Monmouth County Streets

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office paid out more than $30,000 for the surrender of 428 guns last weekend, including 286 handguns and 15 assault weapons, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said.

The guns were collected at two locations - one in Asbury Park, one in Keansburg.

The final tally included 15 assault weapons, 80 semi-automatic handguns, 206 revolvers, 33 shotguns, and 56 rifles. Thirteen inoperable weapons and 25 BB-guns were also surrendered despite no payout being offered for those items.

The assault weapons included a 9mm Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI; two .45 caliber Tommy Gun replicas; four .30 caliber M-1 carbine military assault rifles; a Soviet military-style AK-47; and a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic military-style weapon similar to the automatic weapons carried by the U.S. armed forces today.

“There was an overwhelming response to the gun buyback program this year,” Gramiccioni said. ” The program took in more weapons and dispersed more cash than last year, and there was a 300 percent increase in the number of assault weapons voluntarily surrendered to the program. The program was a resounding success here in Monmouth County.”

The program allows anyone to anonymously surrender a weapon without having to answer questions about their identity or how they came into possession of a weapon. Once the weapon is surrendered, the gun is checked against a national database to determine if it is stolen. If the weapon is not stolen, it is slated for destruction.

Three of the 428 weapons turned out to be stolen and will be returned to their owners in North Carolina and California.

The two-day program disbursed $30,295 for the surrender of the weapons at the Asbury Park Satellite Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Point Comfort Firehouse in Keansburg.

The gun buyback program was made possible, in part, by a generous donation from the Community Foundation of New Jersey and an anonymous donor.

On Friday, 255 firearms were surrendered: 175 in Asbury Park and 80 in Keansburg. On Saturday, 173 firearms were surrendered: 133 in Asbury Park and 40 in Keansburg, Gramiccioni said.

The program took place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and all guns were paid for in cash, ranging from $25 for a shotgun or rifle, to $200 for an assault weapon.

(Smith and Wesson by Greta Ceresini, via Creative Commons)