Gun Buyback Programs – Do You Feel They Work? [POLL]

…and another question in the face of all this, are they legal in the first place?

This coming Saturday and Sunday, Middlesex County will be offering cash to get guns off the streets.

People can drop off guns to officers who will be at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall, 115 Commercial Ave. in New Brunswick, and receive $80 for an operable handgun and $150 for an operable assault rifle.

According to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan s…"The goal of this program is to reduce the number of guns in Middlesex County,’’ ‘’When you turn in guns, you make our neighborhoods safer — and may save a life.’’

Kaplan said nobody will be arrested for surrendering a gun and people can also pick up trigger locks.

Other cities have offered cash for guns, including Elizabeth in 2010 and Newark in 2009.

The church was chosen as a neutral site where people will feel comfortable, said spokesman James O’Neill of the prosecutor’s office. He said New Brunswick also is a central location in the county.

Anybody surrendering a gun must ensure that it is unloaded, wrapped, tied-up or taped and placed in a box, bag or case.…and another question in the face of all this, are they legal in the first place?

However a local attorney says they’re illegal….Evan F. Nappen, who’s the author of the “NEW JERSEY GUN LAW GUIDE” is offering a $5000* reward to the first person who can show to his satisfaction the specific New Jersey gun law statutes which authorizes churches to act as “collection sites” in which persons are paid up to $200 in cash with “no-questions- asked” for any type of gun, and then are” destroyed without further investigation.

Attorney Nappen knows of no New Jersey gun law statute allowing 1) the anonymous surrender of firearms; 2) the receipt of surrendered firearms by churches; 3) the unlicensed transport of guns to churches; and 4) the destruction without investigation of guns (which may be potential criminal evidence or stolen property that should be returned to their rightful owners.



According to the attorney, anonymous surrender is simply not authorized.

Given all that, and the number of gun buyback programs that have taken place throughout the state and country, do you feel that gun buyback programs are effective?