GIVE IT UP: City officials display some of the 134 revolvers, semiautomatic pistols, rifles, shotguns and other firearms returned during a gun buyback event in Brooklyn yesterday (
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A 60-year-old grandmother rattled by the horrific Connecticut children’s massacre surrendered a relative’s .22-caliber pistol at a gun buyback at a Brooklyn church yesterday.
“It inspired me to come by. It should inspire everyone. We’ve got to protect our children,” said Dorothy Johnson, who has a 7-year-old granddaughter.
“I couldn’t wait for today to come so I could get rid of it,” she said. “The shooting yesterday was an eye-opener. It was bone-chilling.”
Johnson dropped off the weapon at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Cypress Hills, one of two drop-off centers in Brooklyn participating in yesterday’s no-questions-asked gun buyback.
The other dropoff center was set up at Mt. Ollie Baptist Church in Crown Heights. Those giving up weapons got $200 bank cards for handguns and $20 bank cards for rifles and shotguns.
Cops said 134 weapons were turned in, including a gun disguised as a wallet.
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The buyback, sponsored by the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, is aimed at taking illegal guns off the streets.
St. Peter’s Pastor David Benke said the Newtown school shooting was on all the participants’ minds.
“They’re emotionally tied up,” he said.
One woman came to show support because her son, Akeal, 14, was shot dead last June.
“It has to stop. I know what they’re going through,” said Natasha Christopher, 39, of Bushwick.