If you would like to see less violence and fewer guns on the streets, the Essex County Bar Association wants you to put your money where your mouth is.

The group is working with the Essex County prosecutor to launch an unusual kind of gun buyback event that needs community members -- from residents to businesses and corporations -- to provide the money that will buy the weapons.

Attorney Matthew Adams, who is spearheading the association's efforts, is hoping donors will raise the $100,000 they expect officials to dole out to everyone who turns in weapons at the no-questions-asked event.

Essentially, your money is melting down firearms.

"It helps everyone," Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino said Wednesday. "It makes the community safer and our job easier. There's one less gun out there that could wreak havoc."

Laurino and Adams said the publicly-funded event may be the first of its kind in New Jersey. Private groups and residents do sometimes make donations to support county- or police-run buyback events, but it's very rare in New Jersey to have a public fundraising campaign to finance the whole buyback pot.

"I thought it was a great idea. I think it's one of the rare public-private partnerships," Laurino said of the bar association's efforts. "Funding is always a problem when we do these kind of events and having the public step up, to be able to participate through the funding aspect, it shows their concern about the community."

Typically in New Jersey, gun buyback events are supported with grants or drug forfeiture money, either from county or local authorities, the Attorney General's Office, or both.

And not just a little forfeiture money. A year ago, the Attorney General's Office worked with local authorities on three buyback events and handed out $481,620 in exchange for 4,775 guns.

Laurino said that before the 2017 event, there hadn't been one an Essex County buyback since 2013. The high cost and limited forfeiture money is a big part of why there haven't been more, he said.

With the bar association committed to raising the money for this event, the acting prosecutor agreed that his office would handle the logistics and staffing of the event. New Jersey State Police and other county and local authorities will also be assisting.

Adams said bar association President Raj Godhok came up with the idea of funding a gun buyback as the group's annual community service project.

"We want to do our part," Adams said Monday. "This isn't about gun rights or the Second Amendment. It's about trying to get illegal and unsafe guns off the street."

The attorneys were the first to chip in, with some donating in the thousands of dollars. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office pledged $5,000 in forfeiture money, too. They've raised approximately $40,000 so far, Adams said, mostly from people donating $50 or $100.

For donations, Adams said the attorneys are tapping their corporate clients and looking to other businesses -- especially those in the health care industry -- but individual residents can also donate. A "Bowling for the Buyback" fundraising event is taking place Aug. 14 at a West Orange bowling alley.

The buyback will be held this fall at Bethany Church in West Orange. A person turning in a gun can get anywhere from $25 for a long gun to $200 for an assault rifle, and cops won't be asking any questions about where the weapons came from or if they're legal or registered.

While many tout buybacks as a way to keep guns off the streets and out of the wrong hands, experts have said that they are one of the least effective ways to reduce gun violence. They argue that most of the people exchanging guns for cash are not criminals with illegal weapons, they're residents handing in antiques or hunting weapons unlikely to be used in crimes.

The 2017 buybacks in New Jersey collected 1,973 handguns, 1,142 shotguns, 1,025 rifles and a range of other firearms including 129 firearms that police described as "assault weapons."

Carole Stiller, president of the Mercer County Million Mom March chapter and a statewide advocate for stricter gun control laws, said she's a firm believer in gun buyback events.

Even if people are handing in legal guns, she said, they could still be preventing future homicides, suicides or accidental discharges. "You never know. Someone can have a handgun in their home and it can be [stolen] and then used in a crime," she said.

Laurino said there's no way to tell how many of the weapons collected at these events are illegal because officers can't ask or even search their serial number.

Adams said that the bar association would like to hold future buybacks, if they can raise the money. The melted-down guns are worth something in scrap metal, he said, and September's event, that money can go toward the next event.

Donations to the buyback event can be made via the bar association's non-profit foundation at the Essex County Bar Association's website or by check.

Editor's note: The date for the gun buyback was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, but the date has changed to an undetermined day in the fall, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said today.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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