Hundreds of guns off Baltimore streets after major gun buyback event in Edmondson Village
By Tommie Clark
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — More than 300 guns are off the streets because of a gun buyback program held Saturday in southwest Baltimore.
Cars lined up at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center parking lot to give up their guns.
“(We’re) hoping to get as many weapons off the street, out of people’s homes, as possible,” the Rev. Mike Murphy, pastor of St. Joseph’s Monastery.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore is partnering with Baltimore police to buy them back.
“Anybody who watches the news knows that the rate of shootings in the city — fatal and non-fatal — is just tremendous,” Murphy said. “So, it’s obviously a continuous threat to the safety and life of people in the city.”
People drove up with weapons in the trunk of their cars, and police officers retrieved them and brought back $200 to $300 in payment — no questions asked.
At the same time, a dozen community organizations held a peace-building fair in the lot that included lawyers to help with expungement and mental health resources.
Deonta Dorsey, 16, was shot and killed in a quintuple shooting in the same spot in January. Since then, police have charged another teenager with his killing.
“Each and every day, all of us have to continue to be that light, so we continue to show folks a different way,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said.
More than 300 firearms were collected, including 17 semiautomatic weapons. City leaders said the event is about bringing a new hope to the city, especially for its young people.
“The reality is, again, it doesn’t start or stop with the pulling of that trigger, but it starts and stops with us caring about them and pouring into them into a way that we have never done before,” Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby said.
Local parishes raised more than $50,000 to make the gun buyback possible. They were able to spend all the funds Saturday. The weapons turned in will now be destroyed.
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