Atlantic County to Participate in Gun Buyback

Churhces in Atlantic City and Pleasantville will host a state-sponsored gun buyback program for Atlantic County residents on March 22 and 23, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced on Thursday, March 7.

The churches are the Second Baptist Church in Atlantic City, and the Faith Baptist Church in Pleasantville, and the buybacks will take place between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day. Residents will receive $250 for each weapon returned, and can return as many as three firearms of any type, "no questions asked," according to Chiesa.

Police officers will be stationed at each church in order to collect and secure the weapons, Chiesa said.

Gun buyback programs have already taken place in Camden, Mercer and Essex counties, and one is scheduled for this weekend in Monmouth County. The programs are paid for with money obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice. The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office is also contributing forfeiture money, Chiesa said.

“To date approximately 5,000 guns -- the vast majority of them operable and capable of ending a life -- have been taken out of circulation as a result of these buybacks,” Chiesa said.  “That’s 5,000 firearms that will never kill or maim a police officer, an innocent bystander, a curious child or anyone else.  I urge the residents of Atlantic County to support this effort to make New Jersey safer by coming out later this month and selling back their firearms.”

Over 1,000 of the guns obtained were illegal because they featured unlawfully high ammunition capacities, had sawed-off barrels or were otherwise modified, Chiesa said. He said the buyback in Essex County resulted in an extraordinary number of lethal weapons being obtained, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle similar to one used in the Newtown, Connecticut mass shootings. Overall, more than 1,700 guns were collected in five towns as part of that buyback.

More than 1,100 weapons were collected in the Camden County buyback in Camden, and 2,600 guns were collected during the Mercer County buyback in Trenton, Chiesa said.

“We recognize that these buybacks aren’t a singular, one-stop solution to the gun violence problem," Chiesa said. "However, they are important because, as we all recognize, there are just too many firearms circulating out there and too many innocent people dying or being critically wounded as a result.

“Going back to each of the three prior gun buybacks we conducted, it was startling, once all was said and done, to look at the amount of weaponry we’d taken in. The arrays included piles of handguns, sawed-off shotguns, rifles, and other firearms.  It is troubling to consider how much lethal firepower is circulating out there in our communities at any given time, just waiting to fall into the wrong hands, or to be used for the wrong purposes."

Chiesa reminds residents that New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the coutry. The crime of Unlawful Possession of a Gun is a second-degree offense punishable by between five and 10 years in prison, Chiesa said.

“Law enforcement agencies on the state, county and municipal levels have partnered with community leaders to remove these weapons from our homes and the homes of our friends and neighbors, where they are more likely to be instruments of tragedy than to serve any legitimate purpose,” Atlantic County Prosecutor James P. McClain said. “This program is an excellent example of how law enforcement and local leaders can work together to make our community a safer place to live and a safer place to visit.”

The buyback is a collaborative effort involving the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office,  New Jersey State Police, the state Division of Criminal Justice, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office, the Atlantic City Police Department, the Pleasantville Police Department and the faith-based community in Atlantic County.

 “The people and agencies working together on this buyback initiative have come together for a common goal -- to save lives and create safer neighborhoods by getting guns off our streets,” Chiesa said.  “I hope the residents of Atlantic County will join us and support this effort by trading in their firearms for cash when we come to Atlantic City and Pleasantville in two weeks.”

The Faith Baptist Church is located at 829 Tilton Road in Pleasantville.  The Second Baptist Church is located at 110 Rev. Dr. Isaac S. Coles Plaza in Atlantic City. Chiesa gave special thanks to Rev. Milton Hendricks of the Faith Baptist Church of Pleasantville, and Rev. Collins A. Days Sr., of the Second Baptist Church in Atlantic City for their participation in the program.

Residents with questions about the gun buyback program can call the Attorney General’s Citizen Services unit at (609) 984-5828 or visit www.nj.gov/guns.