Landmark 'Gun Buyback Day' Big Success In Essex County: Officials

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — For a few hours, the room looked like a gun store. But there was one key difference… these weapons were headed for a date with destruction.

Hundreds of firearms are now “out of circulation” after a one-day gun buyback event in Essex County, authorities reported Wednesday. The “no questions asked” event on March 30 at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark allowed people to anonymously trade up to three guns for a maximum of $250 each.

The program was held by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Essex County Bar Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization that raised most of the funds to hold the event. Officials said that the buyback day was one of the first such initiatives in New Jersey involving law enforcement and a private organization.

When the dust had cleared, 332 guns had been turned in, ranging from “assault weapons” to pistols, officials said.

The Newark Police Department and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office assisted by helping with the collection, valuation and disposal of the weapons.

“For us to get 332 guns off the street means we just avoided 332 tragedies,” Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said. “Every gun taken off the street is potentially one life saved.”

“This was what I understand to be the first gun buyback event in the state of New Jersey to be funded by a private bar organization and everyone really stepped up to make it a reality,” Essex County Bar Association President Gadhok said.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens acknowledged that a single gun buyback event isn’t going to end violent crime in the area. But he added that the March 30 event was a “tremendous success.”

“Guns that could have gotten into the wrong hands, potentially causing a tragedy, were brought in and will eventually be destroyed,” Stephens said.

Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com