On Saturday, Maryland held its first annual Maryland Gun Turn-In Day. The purpose of the event was to
allow anyone to surrender illegal or unwanted handguns, rifles, shotguns or air guns to local law enforcement, no questions asked.
http://www.oag.state.md.us/...
I tried to find statewide statistics but was unable to. However, I did find the results for Montgomery County, Maryland and Salisbury, Maryland.
http://www.mymcpnews.com/...
http://www.wboc.com/...
Of particular interest to me was the Montgomery County, Maryland results:
Total: 111 guns
69 handguns
27 rifles
15 shotguns
In addition 1 grenade, 11 BB guns, 1 sword, and approximately 10,000 rounds of ammunition were turned in.
http://www.mymcpnews.com/...
The grenade really was a surprise to me as I can only image the damage a grenade could have done if it was used in a crowded area. I have no idea why someone would keep a grenade in their home but I am glad that the owners had the good sense to turn it in during the gun turn-in day.
I was also pleased to see that 10,000 rounds of ammunition were taken off of the streets of Montgomery County, a neighboring jurisdiction to where I live.
The Gun Turn-In Day provided the citizens of Maryland with a huge public service in that it allowed residents to get rid of guns that they no longer wanted without the fear that the guns would fall into the wrong hands.
According to police, one reason some people gave for turning in guns and ammunition was that they been passed down from generation to generation and they no longer wanted it in their homes.
http://www.wboc.com/...
I was hoping to find the statistics for Baltimore City, which has a high crime rate.
A similar event in Baltimore City in December resulted in 461 guns being turned in.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/...