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Monmouth County officials doled out $15,000 in exchange for 218 weapons during  their gun buyback campaign Friday and Saturday.

The anonymous program was sponsored by a Rumson resident who offered $25,000 of his own money to fund the campaign under one condition: one of the host locations had to be in Rumson.

Authorities in Asbury Park collected 35 guns on Friday and 68 on Saturday, according to Charles Webster, public information officer for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. In Rumson, police collected 45 on Friday and 80 on Saturday, making the grand total of weapons collected 218, he said.

Public perception between the two neighborhoods puts them at odds, which makes it “interesting to note” that more guns were collected in Rumson, he said.

“When you think about it, you have to wonder why,” Webster said. “Maybe someone felt safer traveling to Rumson. But it helps prove a point — guns are not just an Asbury Park problem.”

The count breaks down to 5 assault rifles, 63 shotguns or rifles, 126 handguns and 20 BB guns along with 4 inoperable weapons.

“We’re absolutely pleased,” said Charles Webster. The $10,000 balance left over from the private donation will fund future gun buyback programs, he said.

Webster noted the recent buyback didn’t produce the numbers seen during a previous program that had the financial support of the state attorney general’s office, but that was to be expected considering the amount of advertising the attorney general’s office put into it. During that program, held at Asbury Park and Keansburg locations in March, county residents turned in a total of 1,581 guns, 15 were assault weapons.

“For a county-run program, it’s one of the best we’ve seen in the past 10 years,” Webster said.

The buyback program began just hours after another city resident was shot multiple times on Washington Avenue, and two days after Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christoper Gramiccioni announced recent police initiatives had produced 101 arrests and seized 11 handguns.

Standing in front of the Asbury Park collection site Friday at Shiloh Community Fellowship Church on DeWitt Avenue, Gramiccioni said it was “frustrating” to see another gun crime committed in the city, but vowed his office would stay “aggressive and proactive.”

“It’s terrible timing, and terrible for the city,” he said. “It drives me crazy — but the decent people far outweigh the bad ones here in Asbury Park,” he said.

None of the weapons collected will be checked against previous criminal records. Conducting ballistics tests against every weapon surrendered would take an immense amount of time and effort, and would undermine the trust officials seek to build with citizens who expect to remain anonymous after they surrender their weapons, Gramiccioni said.

The programs are sponsored by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and the Monmouth County Police Chiefs’ Association.

[Photo at top: A sample of some of the guns collected in Asbury Park on Friday.]

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