500 Guns Exchanged For Cash In Harlem Churches
Rifles, handguns and shotguns were handed over for a $200 bank card.
Sunday, Oct 26, 2008 | Updated 11:10 AM EDT
Getty Images
Five Harlem churches collected hundreds of weapons -- in exchange for cash.
Rifles, handguns and shotguns were handed over on Saturday -- no questions asked. Each person who brought a firearm was handed a $200 bank card.
By late Saturday, more than 500 were collected.
It's part of a program sponsored by the NYPD and the Manhattan district attorney's office to remove weapons from city streets with recent spikes in violence. BB guns and air pistols are accepted in exchange for a $20 bank card.
So far, the buyback program started a half dozen years ago has succeeded in removing about 5,000 guns from New York streets. The city has $100,000 in funding left to finance the effort.
Two weeks ago, churches in Brooklyn collected more than 400 firearms.
Copyright Associated Press
