Gun buyback in Bohemia recovers 111 weapons

Carrying long rifle cases, plastic wrapped shotguns or pistols in cardboard boxes, dozens of people filed into the True North Community Church in Bohemia Saturday to trade the weapons in for some extra cash.

The gun buyback event hosted by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, New York State Police and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office was a way for people to anonymously hand in unwanted guns.

Buyback programs are a popular way to prevent firearms from falling into criminal hands, according to Suffolk Deputy Undersheriff Keith Taylor.

“It allows the public an option to safely get rid of any variety of weapons, from old antique weapons to very substantial guns,” Taylor said.

A total of 111 guns were recovered during the three-hour event, according to the attorney general’s office, including 51 handguns, 39 long guns and 11 assault rifles. Another 10 antique guns were recovered.

With no questions asked, the program offered $500 for assault rifles, $250 for handguns, $75 for rifles and shotguns and $25 for antique or homemade guns.

TJ Hatter, the Long Island director of intergovernmental affairs for the attorney general’s office, said participants have often inherited guns after a death in the family and just want them out of the house.

“It creates the incentive to go out and get rid of that thing you’ve been meaning to get rid of for a while,” he said.

As police officers secured the weapons, Linda Beigel Schulman, of Dix Hills, felt a sense of calm with each one turned in.

Beigel Schulman, 70, knows the pain of gun violence all too well. Her son, Scott, taught geography and was among 17 people murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

“Ever since that day, I talk about gun safety wherever I go,” she said. The family also sends more than 250 children whose lives have been touched by gun violence to sleepaway camps each year to keep Scott’s legacy alive.

She said it was “unbelievable” to see how many weapons were turned in.

“Heaven knows how many are still out there, but it doesn’t matter if we’ve got one or 100 or 1,000,” Beigel Schulman said. “For every weapon that’s turned in, that’s definitely at least a life saved.”

In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 48,000 firearm deaths in the United States.

Matt, 28, of New Rochelle, who declined to give his last name citing the program's anonymity, planned to turn in an AK-style assault rifle and a shotgun at a similar buyback event in Peekskill last month, but missed it. So he took the hourlong drive to Bohemia and made it just before the 1 p.m. cutoff.

He said he enjoys shooting guns recreationally but is paring down his collection.

“I just found myself not using them very often, and they were sitting at the house collecting dust,” Matt said.

After, he planned to meet a local friend at a diner and knock out some holiday shopping with the $575 he received.