In an attempt to keep the streets safer, a truckload of guns was transported by the Coatesville Police Department to the ArcelorMittal steel mill to be melted down on Tuesday morning.

Among the 233 firearms sent into the melting pot were 155 handguns and 78 long guns. The batch included both new and old firearms including an AK-47, a Glock pistol, and a MAC-10 machine pistol with a suppressor. Firearms were not the only weapons slated for destruction, as the pile included several BB guns, a couple of machetes, a sword, and a knife.

The Coatesville Police Department was joined by the Parkesburg Police Department who added 30 firearms to the pile to be destroyed. The Baltimore Police Department also sent a box truck carrying 1,600 handguns to be melted down at the steel mill, raising the total number of eliminated weapons to well over 1,800.

Coatesville Police Chief, Jack Laufer, said that the weapons came into the possession of the police over several years and in many different ways, such as gun buybacks, stolen guns, recovered property, guns surrendered to the police department, and guns seized during the commitment of a crime.

In the case of stolen guns, the department attempts to make contact with the original owner, and then verifies if the owner has cleared the Pennsylvania Instant Check System background check and is legally allowed to own the gun.

“If a lawful owner is located, we send them a certified letter and they have 30 days from the day it is signed for, to respond,” said Coatesville Detective Sergeant Brandon Harris.

For guns used in the commitment of a crime, the law states that they can only be destroyed after a disposition is rendered, and the case is closed, except in the case of a homicide. Firearms used in those crimes have to always be kept as evidence in case of an appeal and the need to re-present the evidence again at a later date, said Harris.

The goal of melting the guns down is to reassure the public that once a weapon enters a police station it will never again end up back on the street said Laufer, adding that this makes it clear that the police department will not sell, trade or reuse the weapon, it will destroy it.