Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that 176 guns were collected Saturday during a buyback event cosponsored by her office and the NYPD at the Majority Baptist Church in Jamaica. This was the 14th gun buyback event by the Queens District Attorney’s office since 2020. The events have recovered a total of 1,025 firearms and the 176 weapons were the most recovered at a Queens event since 2020. The collection was the second largest in New York City this year.

District Attorney Katz said: “Gun buybacks are an effective tool to help reduce the senseless cycle of gun violence that exists in our city. On Saturday, working with the NYPD and Pastor Darryl Frazier, members of the community surrendered 176 firearms, including 10 assault weapons. This was the largest collection of guns in a buyback during my administration and, in total, we have taken 1,025 firearms off the street since 2020. These are guns that will never be used to harm another person and the lives that will be saved are priceless.”

The guns turned in were:

• 77 revolvers
• 55 pistols
• 10 assault weapons
• 5 shotguns
• 2 derringers
• 1 rifle
• 26 others (non-operable guns, imitation guns, pellet guns, etc.)

The gun buyback program is part of an ongoing effort to reduce gun violence and strengthen public safety. That effort includes stopping the trafficking pipeline of guns from southern states where they may have been purchased legally. It also includes investigating and prosecuting those who buy unserialized plastic gun components to build ghost guns in their homes.

The number of shootings in Queens has declined by 10 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2025.