#NYPD and Brooklyn DA host ‘no questions asked’ firearm buyback

(From left): Reverend David K Brawley, Darma V Diaz, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez and Judith Harrison, Asst. Chief Commanding Officer of Patrol Brooklyn North.

Stephen Yang

With gun-violence exploding in Gotham, law enforcers are using any tools to get any deadly  weapon off the streets.

In the first two hours of the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. event at St. Paul Community Baptist Church on Hendrix Street, about a dozen guns had been turned in, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez told The Post. The final tally was 33.  The NYPD last held a cash for guns event in Brooklyn in August 2016. At that time, 59 guns were surrendered in Flatbush.

“There’s been questions asked about whether or not these make a difference. I believe they make a tremendous difference,” Gonzalez said.

“People want solutions. They don’t want finger-pointing. This is part of a multi-pronged approach. We’re going to get as many guns off the streets voluntarily as we can. We’re going to give you a $200 gift card (bank card) if you surrender it, no questions asked.”

Gonzalez added that guns are “often stolen during burglaries, they’re used in crime, so we’re hoping that we’re going to get some guns off the street.”

Michael Thomas, a 55-year-old community activist and retired cop, was skeptical, and fired a few figurative shots at the event and the city’s criminal justice system.

“The buyback program is great. But until the criminal justice system and judges do their job, it’s a waste of time,” he said.

Judith Harrison, Asst Chief Commanding Officer of Patrol Brooklyn North.

Stephen Yang

Law enforcement at a gun buyback program set up at a family center in East New York.

Stephen Yang

Guns from today’s firearm buyback.

NYPD

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“If the cops are taking the guns off street and the criminal system and the judges are allowing them to come right back on the street, this is going to continue … We can buy back guns, but we can’t buy back lives.”

Rosa from The Bronx, who declined to give her last name, turned in a 40-year-old gun she claimed was originally meant for hunting, but never used.

“I don’t want this to go into somebody’s hands. I’m going to move away from the state, and I don’t want to take it with me,” she said.

One man — who wanted to remain anonymous — surrendered two guns that were just “sitting around” the house. “I kind of found them. But sometimes in the hood, you keep things like that because you think you might need them.”

Said DA Gonzalez: “Two hundred dollars is nothing to sneeze at. Most people who are getting rid of guns are desperate to do so. This is really an incentive.”

The NYPD and the Brooklyn DA’s Office held the buyback as shootings soar.

In Brooklyn, where murders were up up 72 percent through Aug. 30, four precincts covering East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York and Crown Heights accounted for more than 57 percent of the borough’s 114 homicides and just under half of its 441 shooting incidents through Aug. 30.