http://www.delawareonline.com/news/2000/june/story706252000.html
For residents, gun buyback is right on target
By J.L. MILLER
Dover Bureau reporter
06/25/2000
Mike and Melodee Delaney have enough to worry about with four young children, and having three guns around the house was just another worry they didn"t need. So the Delaneys and their children - Chamine, 6, Austin, 4, Caleb, 2, and Julia, 7 months - stopped by Dover's Robbins Hose Company on Saturday to turn in their guns.
Dozens of other people had the same idea, and by the end of the day, 137 guns had been turned over to the police in exchange for $50 gift certificates from area stores. The buyback proved so popular that it ended 40 minutes early when the gift certificates ran out.
The next stop for the guns will be the CitiSteel furnace in Claymont, where the weapons will be melted down. The ammunition will be taken to Dover Air Force Base for disposal. The Delaney family had no real use for the .22-caliber rifle, .22-caliber automatic pistol and the century-old .32-caliber Iver Johnson revolver they turned in. "We were never going to shoot them again until [the children] get older," Mike Delaney said. "We didn"t want any handguns in the house," Melodee Delaney said. "We"ve had them locked in the shed for the last six years."
The Delaneys were pleased the state and Dover police departments, Robbins Hose Company and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People worked together to bring the gun buyback program to Kent County. The buyback gave them an opportunity to get rid of their guns and ensure they won"t wind up in the wrong hands. That is the purpose of the buyback program, according to state police Col. Gerald R. Pepper Jr., who dropped by Saturday to see how the effort was going.
"I think [the effort is worthwhile], if you look at the potential for these guns to be stolen in burglaries," Pepper said. "We"re getting them before [criminals] get them." Pepper said his department hopes to extend the buyback program to Sussex County.
The weapons turned in Saturday ranged from a muzzle-loading rifle to a Chinese AK-47 semiautomatic, while the pistols ranged from cheap 'saturday night specials" to well-crafted handguns that were 75 to 100 years old. Several officers shook their heads at a pre-World War I .45-caliber Colt automatic that could bring a pretty penny on the collectors" market, but soon will become a blob of molten steel.
Ray Pazder, a 74-year-old Dover resident, gave up a piece of his past when he turned in the .22 rifle he had bought for $7.50 at age 15 to shoot rats at the city dump. Pazder has five grandchildren, and he wanted to make sure they didn"t come across the firearm. Allen Martin admitted he had second thoughts about turning in his old .22 rifle, a J.C. Higgins model that was manufactured for Montgomery Ward. "It hang-fires once in a while, and with [his son and grandchildren] trying to shoot it, I thought,
"No, someone's going to get hurt," the 68-year-old Dover resident said. But Martin questioned whether there is a correlation between the number of guns in private hands and violent crime. "A disarmed community is more dangerous than an armed community," said Martin, adding that he has other firearms at home.
"I'm not at a gun deficit." Repeated studies of gun buyback programs nationwide have shown they have no detectable effect on crime or accidental shootings, and the police were not promoting Saturday's event as a crime-fighting effort.
But Gary and Penny Saroukos of Dover said they were happy their AK-47 and 9 mm pistol never will be used in a crime. "The gift certificates were a nice incentive to get rid of them," Penny Saroukos said.
For residents, gun buyback is right on target
By J.L. MILLER
Dover Bureau reporter
06/25/2000
Mike and Melodee Delaney have enough to worry about with four young children, and having three guns around the house was just another worry they didn"t need. So the Delaneys and their children - Chamine, 6, Austin, 4, Caleb, 2, and Julia, 7 months - stopped by Dover's Robbins Hose Company on Saturday to turn in their guns.
Dozens of other people had the same idea, and by the end of the day, 137 guns had been turned over to the police in exchange for $50 gift certificates from area stores. The buyback proved so popular that it ended 40 minutes early when the gift certificates ran out.
The next stop for the guns will be the CitiSteel furnace in Claymont, where the weapons will be melted down. The ammunition will be taken to Dover Air Force Base for disposal. The Delaney family had no real use for the .22-caliber rifle, .22-caliber automatic pistol and the century-old .32-caliber Iver Johnson revolver they turned in. "We were never going to shoot them again until [the children] get older," Mike Delaney said. "We didn"t want any handguns in the house," Melodee Delaney said. "We"ve had them locked in the shed for the last six years."
The Delaneys were pleased the state and Dover police departments, Robbins Hose Company and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People worked together to bring the gun buyback program to Kent County. The buyback gave them an opportunity to get rid of their guns and ensure they won"t wind up in the wrong hands. That is the purpose of the buyback program, according to state police Col. Gerald R. Pepper Jr., who dropped by Saturday to see how the effort was going.
"I think [the effort is worthwhile], if you look at the potential for these guns to be stolen in burglaries," Pepper said. "We"re getting them before [criminals] get them." Pepper said his department hopes to extend the buyback program to Sussex County.
The weapons turned in Saturday ranged from a muzzle-loading rifle to a Chinese AK-47 semiautomatic, while the pistols ranged from cheap 'saturday night specials" to well-crafted handguns that were 75 to 100 years old. Several officers shook their heads at a pre-World War I .45-caliber Colt automatic that could bring a pretty penny on the collectors" market, but soon will become a blob of molten steel.
Ray Pazder, a 74-year-old Dover resident, gave up a piece of his past when he turned in the .22 rifle he had bought for $7.50 at age 15 to shoot rats at the city dump. Pazder has five grandchildren, and he wanted to make sure they didn"t come across the firearm. Allen Martin admitted he had second thoughts about turning in his old .22 rifle, a J.C. Higgins model that was manufactured for Montgomery Ward. "It hang-fires once in a while, and with [his son and grandchildren] trying to shoot it, I thought,
"No, someone's going to get hurt," the 68-year-old Dover resident said. But Martin questioned whether there is a correlation between the number of guns in private hands and violent crime. "A disarmed community is more dangerous than an armed community," said Martin, adding that he has other firearms at home.
"I'm not at a gun deficit." Repeated studies of gun buyback programs nationwide have shown they have no detectable effect on crime or accidental shootings, and the police were not promoting Saturday's event as a crime-fighting effort.
But Gary and Penny Saroukos of Dover said they were happy their AK-47 and 9 mm pistol never will be used in a crime. "The gift certificates were a nice incentive to get rid of them," Penny Saroukos said.
To just hand over guns that may be worth 10 times more then that stinking gift certificate,What a bunch of maroons 
And Elvis is doing a come back tour next Thursday