Rocky Mount police are working to get guns off the street Tuesday with an event where they will pay for unwanted guns.

“We explore every avenue we can to reduce crime, and this is just another opportunity we can employ to prevent these weapons from falling into the wrong hands,” police Cpl. Mike Lewis said. “This event is just another tool we are using in a long line of tools we have to make the community safer.”

The third annual Gun Buyback program will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the police department at 330 S. Church St. Owners are asked to leave weapons in your vehicle and an officer will retrieve it safely.

“People come across weapons that a relative may have left them or something and they don’t know what to do with them,” Lewis said. “This is a chance to get some firearms off the streets and get paid for it.”

The department will pay between $5 and $100 per gun. No questions are asked about the guns, and no identification is required.

“We take no steps to identify who these people are. We just want to give people the chance to get rid of any type of firearms they don’t want anything to do with,” Lewis said. “We’ll take anything, but we prefer real guns over replicas, and we are particularly interested in getting assault rifles off the streets.”

Last year, officials paid out more than $6,000 for 103 guns.

“We have substantial financial resources set aside for this event, and we hope to not only match previous years, but surpass them,” he said.

The guns are run through a database to ensure they are not stolen. If they are, officers do their best to return the guns to the owners. If they aren’t stolen, the guns are destroyed.

For more information on the event, call the police department at 972-1471.