A Shocking 60 Guns Taken Off Hudson Valley Streets This Weekend

A gun buyback event took 60 firearms off of Hudson Valley streets on Saturday.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that 60 firearms were turned in to law enforcement at a gun buyback event in Kingston. The exchange was hosted by the AG office in cooperation with the Kingston Police Department and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.

The program accepted both working and non-working firearms without fear of arrest. In exchange for turning in the guns, owners were given compensation with no questions asked.

There have been over 4,700 firearms taken off of the streets and out of local communities since the office of the Attorney General started the firearms buyback program in 2013. James says that gun violence is one of the biggest public health crises the Hudson Valley faces.

Gun buybacks, such as the one we hosted today, are a critical part of our efforts to combat this violence and save lives. Every gun that is turned in today is one less weapon that can be of harm to anyone, and I thank our partners in law enforcement for their invaluable support and collaboration in keeping our residents safe.

Saturday's event netted 26 long guns, 20 handguns, six assault rifles, and eight non-working guns. Offers were on site to make sure the unloaded guns were secured and safely collected. In exchange for the firearms, gun owners were given prepaid gift cards.

Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said that the event was hosted just in time, as the county tends to see more gun violence as the weather begins to warm up. He applauded the Attorney General for helping the community to "get ahead" of the problem.