In June 2022 the Maine Gun Safety Coalition led a gun giveback program across the state of Maine. The public turned in hundreds of unwanted firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition in a safe, legal, responsible manner to the participating law enforcement stations.
Gun locking devices were distributed free of charge to the public during the program as well.
This year's participating departments are Saco, Scarborough, Waterville, Kennebunk, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Bath, Topsham, Brunswick, and the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office.
What happened to the guns?
The firearms collected were destroyed by members of the Maine's Blacksmith Guild.
The parts will then be transported to the Guild's foundry, smelted down and shipped to Pittsburgh where the metal will be turned into an array of jewelry and men's and women's watches. These, in turn, will be sold, and all proceeds will be returned to the Maine Gun Safety Coalition to further our work advocating for gun safety laws and regulations in Augusta and Washington, DC, and will allow us to expand our gun giveback programs in the future.
This is our first year partnering with Humanium Metal, a global nonprofit based in Sweden that has done similar work in Africa and South America. Maine is its first project in America.
MGSC ran a similar one-day gun giveback program in 2019 at 11 different police stations and over 500 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition were taken in.