AKs & 9MMs! Queens Gun Buyback Gets 8,200 Weapons Off The Streets (VIDEO)

It was a violent summer in New York City and in an effort to curb many of the shootings, officials in Queens sponsored a gun buyback initiative on Saturday that collected 509 firearms.

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According to CBS News, anyone who handed in a legal or illegal handgun at the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jamaica received a $200 gift card.

In all, the gun buyback collected 245 revolvers, 168 semi-automatic pistols, an AK 47, tec-9, and a Calico 9mm with a 50 round magazine.

The effort was held in the same neighborhood where Police Sergeant Craig Bier was shot in both legs while working with an anti-gang unit last week.

Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks said during the buy back program:

“While our children are in the streets dying, basically and to a large extent shooting one another, there are too many guns…Too many people who are looking to guns as an answer to resolve problems.”

Since the program’s citywide inception, over 8,200 weapons have been recovered.

SOURCE: CBS News