Underwood: 169 guns turned in at Utica gun buyback
New York Attorney General’s statewide gun buyback program takes more than 2,000 unwanted firearms out of homes and off streets – part of AG’s broader efforts to keep New Yorkers safe from gun violence
Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced that 169 firearms were turned into law enforcement at her office’s gun buyback event in Utica July 10. At these buybacks, the Attorney General’s office accepts, with no questions asked, working and non-working unloaded weapons in exchange for compensation on site.
Since the Attorney General’s Office launched its statewide gun buyback program in 2013, the office has now collected more than 2,000 firearms across New York. Today’s buyback was co-sponsored by the City of Utica Police Department.
“Gun buybacks help ensure safer communities by taking dangerous weapons out of our homes and off our streets,” said Underwood. “My office is committed to combating senseless gun violence however possible.”
The Utica gun buyback resulted in 169 guns being turned in. That number includes five assault weapons; 81 handguns; 60 rifles; 12 shotguns; and 11 non-working or antique guns.
The Attorney General’s Office offers money in the form of gift cards when a gun is received by law enforcement officers. Gift cards with the appropriate amount are issued after each unloaded gun is received and secured by the officers on-site. Free gun locks were also made available for attendees of the gun buyback.
The program is entirely funded through criminal forfeiture funds that were seized from drug and gun traffickers by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force.
The statewide gun buyback program is part of the Attorney General’s broader approach to combating gun violence. The Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force has focused on taking violent gun traffickers off our streets.
The office has also developed Model Gun Show Procedures, a series of safety procedures for gun show operators in New York state, and announced new policies to help social media sites curb illegal sales of firearms on their platforms.
In 2016,the Attorney General’s Office released a first-of-its-kind analysis of tens of thousands of “crime guns” recovered by law enforcement, illustrating gun trafficking trends that undermine New York’s sensible gun laws.