Baltimore's housing authority collected 191 weapons yesterday in its second gun buyback, a quarter of what it took in a month ago.
The daylong effort, at Pleasant View Gardens in East Baltimore, didn't come close to matching the 760 firearms turned in during an April 29 buyback in West Baltimore. Maj. Cornelius Hairston attributed the weaker turnout to a lack of publicity, and the fact that yesterday's buyback had been postponed twice.
Authorities spent $16,300 yesterday, compared with $66,000 on the first buyback. They paid $100 for assault weapons and handguns and $50 for rifles and shotguns. Housing authority spokesman Zack Germroth said $203,700 remains for buybacks this year, out of $286,000 in grant money. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $86,000, and $200,000 came from the city's federally funded drug rehabilitation programs. Germroth said the authority will hold future buybacks with the remaining grant money.