Durham Reporter

Durham County recently conducted the second gun buyback of the year as the region tries a variety of approaches to curtail firearms crimes.

“This is all about encouraging gun safety and really getting guns out of the hands of those individuals who want to voluntarily surrender them to us so they will not end up on our streets,” Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead said in a news report that aired about a month after the event. 

The July event at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church and Durham County Stadium followed the year’s first in April. The latest event collected more than three times the firearms. A total of 295 guns were handed in, including long guns for $100 each, handguns for $150 and assault-style rifles for $200, according to CBS17.com.

“This initiative is all about trying to save as many lives as possible from gun violence, and trying to curb some of the shootings that have occurred in Durham,” the sheriff said in the article.

The county had $35,000 to distribute to those who turned in unwanted firearms. Most of that came out of the sheriff’s budget, but $5,000 was a gift set aside for a gun buyback program.

In an unusual turn, gunsmith Sheridan Halfacre tried to sell eight “ghost guns” — homemade firearms that don’t have serial numbers. Halfacre said he had test-fired the guns and they were functional, but since they didn’t have serial numbers, he could not get paid for them.

"I’ve test-fired them, it was a proof of concept, it worked, I don’t need them anymore,” he said in the article. 

In past events, some of the firearms turned in have been used in crimes. In April’s event, where 94 guns were given up, 25% had been used in crimes and18% had been stolen. In some cases, the guns are returned to the original owner, but a large portion of the firearms — 50%— were destroyed, according to the news report.