Rocket launcher returned as part of Baltimore gun buyback

A rocket launcher was one of over a thousand weapons that have been collected as part of Baltimore’s gun buyback program. 

Three buyback events have been held thus far, with the first two yielding 1,089 firearms. The weapons include 509 handguns, 273 rifles, 245 shotguns and a rocket launcher, for which the city paid $500, according to The Baltimore Sun. 

{mosads}Interim police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said Friday police had reached out to the military and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine the rocket launcher’s origin, which the Associated Press reports was turned in last week. The city has doled out about $163,000 so far as part of the program.

A spokesman for Mayor Catherine Pugh told The Sun that $250,000 from miscellaneous expenses has been made available to cover the cost of the buyback initiative.

Some Baltimore residents have criticized the program as ineffective against guns coming into the city from outside jurisdictions or as a collection of mostly broke and antique guns, but Tuggle said that his department remains committed to destroying guns that could be used in crimes or stolen by perpetrators.

“If they’re not in existence, they’re not in the home, they can’t be used, they can’t be stolen. They won’t contribute to our violence,” he said.