The Baltimore police department held a gun buyback event in an effort to get illegal guns off the streets. That now includes one rocket launcher.
Police say someone turned in the rocket launcher at one of the events, getting $500 in return for it. As the Associated Press reported, police accepted the trade-in and then sent the rocket launcher to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help trace its origin.
Though the trade-in may have been unusual, officials in Baltimore are happy to have the weapon off the streets and to cut down on the potential for violence. City officials have struggled with high crime rates, and in particular, crimes that are committed with illegal guns. Though Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, the state’s largest city is still among the most violent in the nation.