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This weekend’s Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office gun buyback program yielded 428 weapons that resulted in over $30,000 pay out, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Monday afternoon. The program, held in Asbury Park and Keansburg, was a success, he said.

“There was an overwhelming response to the gun buyback program this year,” Gramiccioni said in a written statement. “The program took in more weapons and dispersed more cash than last year, and there was a 300 percent increase in the number of assault weapons voluntarily surrendered to the program.”

According to Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Charles Webster, the gun buyback resulted in the collection of 15 assault weapons, 80 semi-automatic handguns, 206 revolvers, 33 shotguns, and 56 rifles. Thirteen inoperable weapons and 25 BB-guns were also surrendered despite no payout being offered for those items.

The program gives anyone a chance to anonymously surrender a weapon without fear of having to answer questions about their identity or how they came into possession of a weapon.

Once a weapon is surrendered, it is checked against a national database to determine if it is stolen. If the weapon is not stolen it is then slated for destruction.

“Out of 428 weapons surrendered to the program, three guns turned out to be stolen,” said Michael Pasterchick, the Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives.  “Those weapons will be returned to the rightful owners in North Carolina and California.” “

Included among the assault weapons surrendered were a 9mm Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI; two .45 caliber Tommy Gun replicas; four .30 caliber M-1 carbine military assault rifles; a Soviet military-style AK-47; and a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic military-style weapon similar to the automatic weapons carried by the U.S. armed forces today.

The two-day program paid $30,295 for the 255 firearms surrendered Friday and 173 surrendered Saturday. In Asbury, 175 weapons were turned in on Friday and 133 on Saturday.

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