The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A two-county gun buyback program located at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens proved very popular October 23, with the line of sellers wrapping around the Route 27 building.
Sponsored by the state Attorney General’s Office and hosted locally by the Somerset and Middlesex county Prosecutor’s Offices, the one-day event resulted in several boxes filled with guns of all kinds.
Also participating in the event to various degrees were the NJ State Police, Franklin and New Brunswick police departments, and the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department.
Similar buyback programs were run concurrently in Asbury Park, Bridgeton, Camden, Carneys Point, Englewood, and Trenton.
People started lining up at the church well before the 10 a.m. starting time, said Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Capt. Melissa Terpanick.
“We’re pleasantly surprised with the crowd here today,” she said. “It has been non-stop since before our start time of 10 a.m.”
Once they arrived at the church, the sellers reported to table where their guns were checked to make sure they were completely empty. Zip ties were then attached to them to signify that they had been cleared.
The sellers then joined the line that ran around the building, waiting for their chance to enter the church and have their firearms reviewed for payment.
The guns’ serial numbers were also checked to make sure the guns were not stolen, Terpanick said.
Payments for the guns ranged from $25 for inoperable arms to $125 for shotguns and rifles, $200 for handguns and $250 for assault weapons. each person was limited to a maximum of three guns to sell.
The buyback was done on a “no questions asked” basis and the sellers remained confidential.
Terpanick credited the large turnout to the advertising that was done for the event, which included traditional print plus heavy social media, she said.
Terpanick said the sellers had different motives for ridding themselves of the weapons.
“Some just cleaned out their closets, cleaned out their attics, some have been passed down through generations, and they have a fear of them being in the home,” she said. “Some are just doing some Spring cleaning and getting rid of everything that is unnecessary.”
“I think it’s a great way to make the community a little bit safer,” she said.
Terpanick said the guns would be brought to an NJ State Police facility where they will be destroyed in a “massive burn.”
“Everything will be melted and destroyed,” she said.
The gun buyback program was funded with forfeiture dollars obtained by the local police departments and county Prosecutors’ Offices, as well as forfeiture funds from the Division of Criminal Justice, according to the Attorney General’s web site.
