PRESS RELEASE
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced that 151 firearms were turned into law enforcement at her office’s gun buyback event today in Plattsburgh. 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 nearly 2,000 firearms across New York State. The buyback was co-sponsored by the City of Plattsburgh Police Department.
“Our communities are safer when we take unwanted or forgotten guns off our streets and out of our homes,” said Attorney General Underwood. “We will continue to do everything we can to tackle gun violence here in New York and fight for federal action to protect our children and communities.”
Today’s gun buyback resulted in 151 guns being turned in. That number includes 4 assault weapons; 64 handguns; 65 rifles; 4 shotguns and 14 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 Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force has focused on taking violent gun traffickers off our streets. The office 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.
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