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Crime & Safety

Bergen Gun Buyback Nets More Than 1,300 Firearms

Officials say 120 guns turned in at Teaneck and Englewood collection sites. Weapons ranged from World War II-era guns to assault rifles.

Bergen County’s second gun buyback netted almost twice the amount of firearms purchased about three years ago.

Crowds were so heavy that by Sunday afternoon, at a Teaneck collection site, sheriff’s officers were scrambling to find more cash to keep the two-day buyback program running through its final two hours.

"The last two days have been an overwhelming success," Sheriff's Office spokesman Richard Moriarty said. "We actually had to appeal to the prosecutor last night for more funds because we were running out of money very quickly."

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In total, the weekend buyback collected 1,307 firearms and 55,000 rounds of ammunition across six sites compared to the 708 firearms bought in August 2010, according to Bergen County Sheriff’s Inspector Mickey Bradley. Officials collected .  

Sunday’s haul included 28 handguns, 30 rifles and shotguns, and one assault rifle at the Teaneck location, Bradley said. In Englewood, 37 handguns and 24 rifles were collected, he said.

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Englewood Councilwoman Lynne Algrant, who helped bring the buyback to her city, said that she was moved to action by the Newtown elementary school massacre, as well as a burst of New Year’s gun violence in Englewood.

“I wish every community would do it,” she said. “I don’t know if it necessarily needs to be targeted in specific communities, but truthfully, we started off the year with cases of gunfire in the first few hours of the New Year.”

But to some, the weapons turned in over the weekend seemed unlikely to be used in the types of high-profile shootings that have spurred buyback programs across the country and pushed calls for new gun control measures.

“A gun buyback has never ever worked,” said Ronald DuPois, who gathered with other gun rights activists at the Teaneck Municipal Building to demonstrate against what they argue has been an effort by government to chip away at the Second Amendment.

“Have the crime statistics gone down in those towns where they have buybacks? No, it doesn’t go down. It’s a gimmick. It’s public relations,” he added.

Many of the weapons turned in were hunting rifles that had fallen into disuse or antique firearms inherited from family members.

Junius Stephenson, of Demarest, who turned in an 85-year-old revolver inherited from his father at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Englewood, said he’s never used it.

“I don’t know if it’s even been fired, for that matter,” he said.

One Englewood resident, who asked to remain anonymous, waited a half hour to turn in his deceased father’s .38 caliber pistol.

“My mother had it and didn’t know what to do with it. So we used it to pay the water bill,” the city resident said.

Bradley, of the sheriff’s office, noted even legal or older guns have the potential to be dangerous, as in the case of a Tom’s River child shot by his four-year-old neighbor last week.

“This is the type of incident we can avoid if people don’t know how to properly secure their weapons and want to get rid of them,” Bradley said.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office forked over more than $100,000 in forfeiture funds for guns this weekend, but that wasn't enough to keep up with demand. Authorities had to quickly divert cash to meet demand in Fair Lawn, where officials said they saw steady lines of 50 to 100 people.

By 4 p.m., the county had run out of money for the program and began issuing IOUs in exchange for weapons.

“We have the [contact information] on the bottom part of the paper, so the idea is that when we file the paperwork, the Prosecutor’s Office is going to cut the name and the phone number off it so there’s no file on the person,” Bradley said.

Bergen’s buyback offered $20 for non-operational weapons, $80 for rifles and shotguns, $100 for handguns, and $300 for automatic weapons, officials said. The payments were made in cash, and the former owners kept anonymous.

Similar gun . The initiative was first aimed at reducing urban violence, but law enforcement officials have said the Newtown shooting likely spurred more residents to turn in their weapons.

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