WEST BRIGHTON — A gun buy-back program in West Brighton took 55 guns off the streets Saturday — including a Soviet Union-era assault rifle, according to the NYPD.
Guns handed in at St. Mary's Episcopal Church included 33 revolvers, 14 semi-automatic pistols and an SKS assault rifle, the NYPD said.
The rifle had .762 caliber bullets and a 30-round magazine, police said.
The program, hosted by the NYPD and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, accepted guns in return for a bank card up to a value of $200, with no questions asked.
Donovan said in a statement that he made assault rifles worth $200 in an effort to get them off the streets in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Of the guns returned Saturday, two were loaded and two had defaced serial numbers, police said.
In total, 8,100 firearms have been turned in at gun buy-back events across the city.
