Sheriff Lee Baca announced the destruction Tuesday of 5,495 weapons confiscated from criminals in Los Angeles County and collected through the “Gifts for Guns” exchange program. Annually, Gerdau Steel Mill, located in Rancho Cucamonga, generously donates its furnace, equipment and personnel to convert these weapons into steel rebar. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works also donates the trucks every year that transport the weapons to the Mill.

These weapons will be melted into steel reinforcing bar (rebar) and ultimately transformed into elements of construction for upgrades in freeways and bridges in Arizona, California and Nevada. “Our partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department allows us the opportunity to make an impact in our community,” said Jim Crompton, Vice President and General Manager of Gerdau Steel Mill. “We are taking weapons that could destroy our community and repurposing them into steel that will literally help build our community.”

Twelve law enforcement agencies have contributed confiscated weapons to this program. These agencies include Downey Police Department, Long Beach Police Department, Signal Hill Police Department, Claremont Police Department, El Montel Police Department, West Covina Police Department, Whittier Police Department, Santa Monica Police Department, Bell Gardens Police Department, Culver City Police Department, El Camino College Police Department and Inglewood Police Department.

The collection of weapons can be attributed to the hard work of the law enforcement officers throughout Los Angeles County. Sheriff Baca stated, “These weapons that you see here will never again be used to commit a crime or used to threaten or intimidate an innocent victim.”

For more information please contact Public Information Officer Nicole Nishida at (323) 810-1973 or Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau at (323) 267-4800. For information about Gerdau please visit http://www.gerdau.com/longsteel/