Nearly 5,000 Firearms Destroyed In Annual Gun Melt

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CBSLA.com) – Nearly 5,000 guns collected by Los Angeles law enforcement agencies were destroyed Wednesday morning in the 24th annual Gun Destruction event.

Exactly 4,971 firearms were melted down at the Gerdau Steel Mill furnace in Rancho Cucamonga. The metal will be converted into steel rebar that can be used in highway and bridge construction, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

In the 24 years since the event began, 164,900 weapons have been melted down. They include handguns, rifles and automatic weapons that have been both seized during criminal investigations and voluntarily turned in by citizens.