By Brad Segall

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (CBS) — Nearly 250 guns confiscated from the streets of Upper Darby (Delaware County) are being destroyed in an effort to keep the community safer.

Police say the firearms — everything from semi-automatic handguns to AK-47s — were used in suicides, homicides and other serious crimes.

The police department has had many of these guns for nearly a decade, but now they’re being trucked to a Delaware scrap company and melted down for construction materials.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood says this is the third “burn” in seven years, leading to the destruction of more than 1,000 guns so far.

“My concern is when guns are used for violence, when guns are used for robberies, when guns are used for suicides,” he said today. “This is not about anti-hunter, this is about pro-public safety.”

(Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood holds a sawed-off shotgun while standing among confiscated weapons. Credit: Brad Segall)

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Looking over the weapons, Chitwood said it’s an indication of how easy it is to get a gun. He says his officers are outgunned by the bad guys, and if Upper Darby were a Third World country, it would win the war.