NJ Launches Another Gun Buyback Program [AUDIO]

After December's successful gun buyback program in Camden, where more than 11 hundred firearms were turned in, law enforcement officials will hold another gun buyback program in Trenton on January 25th and 26th.

State Attorney General Jeff Chiesa said, "It's troubling to contemplate the pain and misery caused by gun violence.  As we all know, with the events last month in Connecticut, there are just too many guns out there, and too many people dying as a result of gun violence.  if we can save even one life through this program, it's money well spent."

He said, "I don't view this program as an absolute solution to the problem, I view the program as part of a strategy to bring attention to this issue, to use our resources to make our streets and our cities safer.  Every gun we buy back is one less gun that can potentially harm somebody."

Why choose Trenton for the next gun buyback event?

"The first Jersey homicide of 2013 happened in Trenton, only a few minutes into the new year, and there have been several more shootings since.  We know that guns can travel over boarders," pointed out Chiesa.

He went on to say, "We know guns can be used in one situation and can end up in another tragic situation as well, and while I don't claim that this is a be-all, end-all, I feel very strongly the use of these funds.  The way we're dedicating these funds is a really important step in an overall strategy to reduce gun violence.  The money that I'm using here is money that's come from violent crime.  So in my mind, what better way to use it, as part of an overall strategy to reduce violent crime."

Chiesa said while the buyback program won't solve Jersey's crime problem, it will get some gun off the streets.  "At last months buyback program in Camden we got an AK-47, we got 5 fully automatic assault rifles, we got dozens of shotguns, including a bunch of sawed-off shotguns, and we got community handguns that are typically hidden in areas where not only can gang members and drug dealers get them, but kids can go get them.  My point isn't that we're going to get 1 thousand 137 guns from gang members.  I know that I've taken firearms that would have been used otherwise for violence, out of circulation, and that's the point of the program. We want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to take illegal guns and violence out of commission."