5 Things to Know About the Aug. 5 Community Peacebuilding & Resource Fair, featuring a gun buyback

With more than $50,000 raised from Catholic parishes and individual donors, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is organizing a gun buyback and resource fair featuring a dozen community-based partners on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Edmondson Village Shopping Center in West Baltimore. 

The interfaith event – a grassroots effort kicked off by Father Mike Murphy, a Southwest Baltimore native and pastor of St. Joseph Monastery Parish in Irvington – hopes to build a coalition for peace in West Baltimore and channel hope to the community in the midst of a violent summer.

Here are five things to know about the event:

What is the gun buyback and why is it important for the community?

The Baltimore Police Department will provide a safe and legal way for community members to dispose of guns – $200 for each handgun, rifle or shotgun and $300 for each semi-automatic and fully automatic assault weapon. Weapons turned in will be destroyed. Excess funds from the gun buyback will go to the Archdiocese’s Grief Ministry in support of the families of homicide victims.

Gun buybacks allow people to turn over firearms voluntarily to the police in exchange for cash as an incentive. In turn, the number of guns in a community is reduced and the unwanted weapons are disposed of in a safe and legal way. 

Gun buybacks are effective because they take firearms out of circulation, off the streets and out of people’s homes. Every gun that is turned in brings with it the potential to save a life. Buybacks also raise awareness and bring hope to communities affected by crime and violence, including those in West Baltimore surrounding the Edmondson Village Shopping Center that is the site of the event. 

With every person who sells a gun, the chances are reduced that someone will die by suicide, the firearm will be involved in an accidental shooting or an intruder will have an opportunity to use it in a violent act. 

“Gun buybacks give people a legal way to dispose of unwanted firearms, and research shows safety is a top motivation for participants,” Father Murphy said. “The guns recovered could be the same ones used in a suicide or an impulsive act of rage, or they could be stolen in a home invasion and discharged in a subsequent crime. Could our event be what sparks a violent repeat offender to change his life and turn his piece over for a couple of hundred dollars? I’ve certainly witnessed the Holy Spirit do bigger things.

“Our event is about taking an action that is within our control as a community to confront the relentless pace of murder – as just one part of the broader solution.”

How does a buyback honor Catholic social teaching?

Gun buybacks reduce the number of firearms that could be involved in a theft, injury or fatality. This aligns with the Catholic Church’s belief that every human life is sacred.

 “With every gun that we get off the street and out of a home, we reduce the risk a depressed widow will die by suicide, an impulsive teenager will find an old revolver in his grandparent’s attic or an intruder will use a stolen weapon in a violent act. With every gun we buy back, we do, indeed, make a safer city, in one way or another,” Archbishop William E. Lori said.

It also aligns with Pope Francis’ call for peace. The Holy Father has repeatedly called the faithful to reduce the circulation of firearms, saying after the 2022 Uvalde, Texas school shooting: “It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of arms. Let us all commit ourselves so that such tragedies can never happen again.” 

What is the resource fair and who is involved?

Partner groups will offer resources on programs that provide job training, trauma counseling, youth advocacy, gun safety education, health and wellness outreach and anti-poverty services. Returning citizens will prepare and give away fresh food meals through the Franciscan Center. Interfaith leaders will join community members in prayer and provide pastoral support and spiritual guidance upon request. The event also includes a public program with elected officials and dignitaries beginning at noon and music throughout the day.

Resource fair partners include: Franciscan Center (giving away 500 meals); Roberta’s House; Catholic Charities; My Brother’s Keeper; West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation; Youth Advocate Programs; Moms Demand Action; St. Vincent de Paul; Ascension St. Agnes; LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope; Roca; Daughters of Charity; Baltimore City’s homicide survivor advocates; Alterwood Health; Project PLASE; BUILD’s Turnaround Tuesday; Black Lives Matter Interfaith Coalition; The Pratt’s Edmondson Village branch; Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and Maryland Legal Aid.

There will also be a prayer booth with interfaith leaders offering pastoral care and spiritual guidance, as well as a “meet your neighbor” table with community leaders engaging resource partners and members of the public in conversation.

Why do some people say gun buybacks don’t work? 

Empirical evidence on the impact of gun buybacks is limited, in part because events are typically small in scope and geographic reach. The benefits also are not entirely captured using standardized scientific methods. And by design, buybacks are anonymous, so studying individual outcomes is challenging, especially when gathering the data relies on voluntary surveys. 

These events are meaningful to the communities where they are held. Buybacks empower residents, create community engagement and coalitions, connect participants with services, raise awareness for gun safety and take guns out of homes where the owners do not want them. 

How to make a donation

Mail a check to St. Joseph’s Monastery Parish Office 251 S. Morley Street, Baltimore, MD 21229. (Indicate on the memo line that the contribution is for the gun buyback event.) Funds will go to the needs of families of homicide victims. 

To ready more about the resource fair and gun buyback, visit:

https://catholicreview.org/faith-and-civic-partners-will-offer-gun-buyback-aug-5/

https://www.archbalt.org/gun-buyback-press-release/

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