Toronto police gun amnesty blitz rakes in 86 long rifles, 22 hand guns

Toronto police announced on Wednesday that 86 long rifles, 22 hand guns and more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition was handed in to themat the end of a 14-day long gun amnesty program.

Police Chief Mark Saunders said most of the people police came across felt "burdened" by the firearms they had in their possession.

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"When a firearm is handed down to you, you really don't know what your responsibilities are ...and to be frank alot of people don't take the time to sit there and look at what the rules are," he said. "So you hide it under your pillow or mattress or something when in fact you've committed a criminal offence."

Saunders says policeweren't looking for crime guns but rather offering people the opportunity to get rid of firearms thatthey didn't want inside their homes.

"It would be a remarkable day if I had a street gang member come in and turn his firearm in to us for destruction because we do check the firearm to see if they had been associated with any criminal activity," he said.

Saunders said the programmade thecommunity safer because it took away the opportunity for those firearms to accidentallyhurt someone or be stolen and used bycriminals.

He said all the guns surrendered to them during the blitz will be destroyed.

The program ran from Nov. 2 to Nov 16.