Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher and More Turned in During LA Gun Buyback

Nearly 800 guns, including an anti-tank rocker launcher, were turned in to the LAPD’s recent gun buyback event.

The LAPD’s annual gun buyback event was held in May. The owners who handed over the guns for either $100 or $200 Target gift cards.

Since the agency began the buyback program in 2009, people have turned in more than 16,000 guns. The guns are melted down, and some of the metal is reused as construction material. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti set a goal for this and future buybacks of removing 20,000 guns over a 5-year-period. The LAPD has received a $1-million federal grant for a gun intelligence center that will attempt to put more shooters behind bars by linking guns to crimes.

This buyback netted 772 guns. The returned guns include 370 handguns, 220 rifles, 142 shotguns and 40 semi-automatic weapons (the original article calls them assault weapons). Six of the guns were stolen. One gun was brought home by a World War II soldier and others were turned in by family members after the gun owner went to prison, says the article. There was no further information available about the person who turned in the anti-tank rocket launcher. Or why they turned it in.