WORCESTER - A local business owner teamed up with area police departments on Saturday to help get unwanted guns out of homes. 

Hundreds of firearms were destroyed as part of the City's "Goods 4 Guns" Buyback program. 

"If it's a sawed off shotgun, it's not good for anything but bad. So what do you do with it? Euthanize it," said Paul Curci, owner of City Welding, who used his hydraulic presss to crush unwanted guns. 

The Goods 4 Guns program aims to get unsecured weapons out of homes and off the streets. More than 3,000 guns have been turned in since the program started 18 years ago. 

A supporter of the 2nd Amendment, Curic says recent tragedies motivated him to get involved.

"After Majory Stoneman Douglas [in Parkland, FL] and [Newtown] Connecticut. It's just awful," Curci said. 

Dudley Police is one of 16 departments that collected guns in the area. 

On Saturday, Dudley Chief Steven Wojnar took in several guns, including a shotgun and paintball guns. 

Chief Wojnar said, "Some of them are very realistic looking, so it's actually good to have them out of the hands of people that could have mistaken them for a real firearm. That's a real important thing. 

The guns in Dudley will go to Curci and the Crusher. 

Students from Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School will then take the crushed guns -- and in collaboration with "Guns 2 Gardens" -- take those parts and turn them into artwork.

Guns 2 Gardens is a network of blacksmiths looking to give destroyd guns a second, less dangerous life.

Curci said last year they collected about 300 guns and he expected similar numbers this year. As for the tools being made by the Assabet students, some of them will be used in the garden behind UMass Medical Center. The food gathered in that garden goes to the Worcester County Food Bank.