New York has held gun buybacks before, but this time the New York Police Department (NYPD) changed the usual venue. Instead of surrendering guns at a police station, citizens were encouraged to come to one of six participating churches in St. Albans, Jamaica and the Rockaways.
The results were amazing as 919 guns – including assault weapons, sawed-off shotguns, some 130 semi-automatic pistols and over 250 revolvers – were removed from the community before they could be used in the commission of a crime or deadly felony.
The NYPD and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown ran the buyback program together rewarding anyone bringing in a firearm with a $200 bank debit card – no identity required, and no questions asked. The price paid was over $183,000, and if removing these weapons of destruction from the streets of Queens saves one life, one cop or shopkeeper, or one innocent child, it was a small price to pay.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed out that the clergy’s partnership was the key to the biggest single-day intake of weapons in our buyback program. Starting in 2002, the NYPD began offering $100 to anyone turning in a firearm at a precinct. The result: 5,000 guns taken off the streets in seven years.
“Now, by doubling the buyback reward – and far more importantly, by enlisting the help of respected community and spiritual leaders – we’ve recovered more than 3,500 weapons in just six days citywide,” Bloomberg said.
We applaud the mayor and the new gun buyback initiative because they put the criminals on notice that we are all working together to keep violence out of our neighborhoods.
We call on other Queens clergy and community leaders to cooperate with the DA and the NYPD and host buyback programs in their neighborhoods. Let us keep the ball rolling, and make our streets safer for everybody.
