Community Corner
Guns For Cash Program Comes To Middlesex County
Anyone turning in a firearm on Sept. 27 and 28 can receive as much as $250.
A program that has taken in over 14,000 guns will come to Middlesex County later this month.
On Thursday afternoon, Acting NJ Attorney General John J. Hoffman called a press conference at the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office to announce the Middlesex County dates for the state's Gun Amnesty Program, a buyback program that offers cash for surrendered firearms.
On September 27-28 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Middlesex County residents can surrender as many as three guns "no questions asked," and receive as much as $250 cash per gun, depending on the condition of the weapon.
The drop-off locations are:
- Sacred Heart Parish Hall, 115 Commercial Ave., New Brunswick
- Sayre Woods Bible Church, 2290 Route 9 South, Old Bridge
- Cathedral International, 282 Madison Ave., Perth Amboy
The program is funded using money seized by authorities from criminal operations, Hoffman said. It is not funded using taxpayer money.
"I am as troubled as (everyone else) by gun violence we see in our communities," Hoffman said, recalling the cases of six-year-old Brandon Holt of Toms River, accidentally shot and killed by a four-year-old neighbor, and Barry Church who was sitting on the stoop of his Trenton house when a stray bullet killed him.
That's why the program is run, Hoffman said.
"To fight a problem we all realize has reached epidemic proportions," he said.
Nine other gun surrender programs have taken place throughout the state. In total, 14,114 guns have been turned in and over 1,700 of those weapons are illegal, Hoffman said, describing the array seen at past events as "terrifying."
Over 6,500 of the surrendered guns were hand guns, he said.
For more information on the NJ Gun Amnesty Program, visit www.nj.gov/guns/.
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