These guns were collected during the 2016 gun buyback effort in Worcester. [T&G File Photo] ▲ Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, pediatric surgeon at UMass Memorial Medical Center, co-founded the city's annual "Goods for Guns" program. [T&G File Photo] ▲

WORCESTER – Guns turned in at the 17th annual "Goods for Guns" buyback program on Saturday will be crushed into rubble.

Co-founded by Dr. Michael Hirsh, Worcester Department of Public Health medical director and UMass Memorial Medical Center pediatric surgeon, along with law enforcement officials, the gun buyback program has collected more than 3,400 guns over 16 years.

This year, Paul Curci, owner of City Welding and Sheet Fabrication, at 10 Ararat St., offered to turn the guns into scrap. Guns will be accepted at the Ararat Street location and the Worcester Police Station at Lincoln Square from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"I believe in the gun buyback program because it provides an opportunity for me and my colleagues to stand on the bully pulpit and talk to the community about gun violence," Dr. Hirsh said. "It is a union of the blue coats and white coats to make our community safer. And, we do this without challenging anyone's right to own firearms and without threats of confiscation."

Guns will be exchanged for gift cards, supplied by UMass Memorial Health Care, of varying amounts: $25 for a rifle or replica gun, $50 for a pistol and $75 for a semiautomatic weapon of any kind.

Gun locks will be offered free of charge to all gun owners at these police stations whether they turn in a gun or not.

Central Massachusetts police departments accepting guns Saturday are:

‒ Auburn: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

‒ Barre: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Charlton:10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

‒ Dudley: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Fitchburg: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

‒ Grafton: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Leicester: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Leominster: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

‒ Millbury: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Northboro: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Northbridge: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Rutland: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

‒ Southbridge: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

‒ Spencer: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

‒ Webster: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sponsored by UMass Memorial Medical Center, the Worcester district attorney's office and Central Massachusetts police departments, the 17th annual "Goods for Guns" buyback program is coordinated to approximate the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, (on Dec. 14, 2012) and will be held in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut; 16 Central Massachusetts sites; Boston and Springfield; and San Francisco and San Mateo, California.