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Brunswick firearms buy-back brings in 9
By Terry Dickson, The Times-Union
BRUNSWICK - The city's first gun buy-back event Saturday netted nine guns, including a couple of surprises, Brunswick police Chief Edna Johnson said.
An elderly couple came in with a sawed-off shotgun that they said had been in their house since they moved in years ago, Johnson said.
"Thank God they brought it to us. I wouldn't want that on the street," she said.
It was one of several very dangerous firearms brought; including a rusty 9mm Ruger pistol that came with a 75-round magazine, a second 12-gauge shotgun and several so-called Saturday night specials.
Although the 9mm Ruger was rusty, it would have taken only a little work to put it in good working order and to make it fully automatic, said Michael Johnson, a Camden County deputy sheriff and Brunswick resident who is running for a City Commission seat.
Edna Johnson said she expected people to filter in slowly but that someone was waiting when they opened the doors of the auditorium at Howard Coffin Park at 9 a.m. The first person to bring a gun was a man who brought two handguns.
"Someone broke in his house. He said they missed his guns," Johnson said.
Rather than risk them falling into the wrong hands, the man sold them in the buy-back, she said.
Johnson gave $50 for each handgun, no matter the condition, but $100 for the sawed-off shotgun because it could be so easily concealed and could do so much damage.
The elderly couple who brought the shotgun said they had thought of selling it, not knowing it is against the law to own one, Edna Johnson said.
Johnson said the initial buy-back exceeded her expectations and that another will be held in the coming months. She also said turnout would have likely been better, but some likely feared getting arrested. The police didn't take names. They just handed over cash and secured the guns.
"When word gets out the police aren't going to come snatch anybody up," response should grow, she said.
City and Glynn County police are also going to offer gun bounties in which people are rewarded for informing police about guns stolen or used in crimes. Johnson said she will ask the City Commission for permission to accept money donated from churches and businesses for use in the bounty.
Commissioner James Brooks, who was at the buy-back, said he favors the bounty and so does the majority of the City Commission.
Johnson used forfeited drug funds in the buy-back.
The gun buy-back and bounties are among the initiatives in response to the shooting deaths of two teenagers and other, nonfatal shootings since July.
Thirteen-year-old Rolonda Roberts was shot to death on Q Street in Brunswick on July 14 and 15-year-old Aaron Brennon was shot to death Aug. 18 on a street just outside the city. Two young adults were arrested on murder charges in the deaths.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091607/geo_199960617.shtml
By Terry Dickson, The Times-Union
BRUNSWICK - The city's first gun buy-back event Saturday netted nine guns, including a couple of surprises, Brunswick police Chief Edna Johnson said.
An elderly couple came in with a sawed-off shotgun that they said had been in their house since they moved in years ago, Johnson said.
"Thank God they brought it to us. I wouldn't want that on the street," she said.
It was one of several very dangerous firearms brought; including a rusty 9mm Ruger pistol that came with a 75-round magazine, a second 12-gauge shotgun and several so-called Saturday night specials.
Although the 9mm Ruger was rusty, it would have taken only a little work to put it in good working order and to make it fully automatic, said Michael Johnson, a Camden County deputy sheriff and Brunswick resident who is running for a City Commission seat.
Edna Johnson said she expected people to filter in slowly but that someone was waiting when they opened the doors of the auditorium at Howard Coffin Park at 9 a.m. The first person to bring a gun was a man who brought two handguns.
"Someone broke in his house. He said they missed his guns," Johnson said.
Rather than risk them falling into the wrong hands, the man sold them in the buy-back, she said.
Johnson gave $50 for each handgun, no matter the condition, but $100 for the sawed-off shotgun because it could be so easily concealed and could do so much damage.
The elderly couple who brought the shotgun said they had thought of selling it, not knowing it is against the law to own one, Edna Johnson said.
Johnson said the initial buy-back exceeded her expectations and that another will be held in the coming months. She also said turnout would have likely been better, but some likely feared getting arrested. The police didn't take names. They just handed over cash and secured the guns.
"When word gets out the police aren't going to come snatch anybody up," response should grow, she said.
City and Glynn County police are also going to offer gun bounties in which people are rewarded for informing police about guns stolen or used in crimes. Johnson said she will ask the City Commission for permission to accept money donated from churches and businesses for use in the bounty.
Commissioner James Brooks, who was at the buy-back, said he favors the bounty and so does the majority of the City Commission.
Johnson used forfeited drug funds in the buy-back.
The gun buy-back and bounties are among the initiatives in response to the shooting deaths of two teenagers and other, nonfatal shootings since July.
Thirteen-year-old Rolonda Roberts was shot to death on Q Street in Brunswick on July 14 and 15-year-old Aaron Brennon was shot to death Aug. 18 on a street just outside the city. Two young adults were arrested on murder charges in the deaths.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091607/geo_199960617.shtml
