Baltimore Archdiocese holds third annual gun buyback program amid declining gun crime

CNA Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 15:23 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will host a gun buyback event for the third year in a row, urging citizens to surrender their guns for cash as the city continues to see declining gun crime rates.

The archdiocese hosted successful gun buyback events in 2023 and 2024. The program raised tens of thousands of dollars each year to help finance the purchasing of guns.

The archdiocese says on its website that the event will take place Aug. 9 in the southwestern part of the city. The Baltimore City Police Department, St. Joseph’s Monastery Parish, and the Health by Southwest coalition will join the archdiocese in supporting the buyback.

The 2023 program netted nearly 160 handguns as well as shotguns and rifles. Handguns and long guns were purchased for $200 apiece, while assault weapons were bought for $300. All of the purchased firearms were destroyed. Last year’s event, meanwhile, collected nearly 300 guns.

Father Mike Murphy, the pastor of St. Joseph Monastery as well as of Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus, told CNA this week that organizers have raised roughly $60,000 so far this year, about the same as last year. The first year the effort raised about $40,000.

“We have cultivated a group of wonderful supporters over the years,” he said. “I anticipate a bit more leading up to the day of the buyback.”

The latest buyback comes as crime has been dropping rapidly in Baltimore, including gun crime.

The city has long struggled with a violent crime rate significantly higher than the national average. From 2015–2022 the city recorded more than 300 homicides annually, including 348 in 2019, which nearly equaled the record of 353 set in 1993.

Earlier this year in the city the Sisters of Bon Secours launched a citywide campaign against gun violence, one featuring ads inside and outside of city buses and in subway transit stations urging residents to “put the guns down” and “let peace begin with us.”

In a press release earlier this month, meanwhile, the Baltimore Police Department said it has recorded “double-digit reductions in gun violence” in the city throughout 2025.

That decline includes a 22% decrease in homicides and a 19% reduction in nonfatal shootings. By this time last year, the police department said, there were 88 gun killings, compared with 68 so far this year.

“Baltimore is a safer city today, and I’m proud of the dedication shown by our officers, community members, and all of our partners in working together towards that goal,” Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in the release.

Murphy, meanwhile, told CNA he thinks the drop in homicides is “due to a few factors, of which I hope we played some part in.”

The priest said the effort to bring down crime has been citywide.

“Mayor [Brandon] Scott has worked hard on this issue [as have] others in the city,” he said. “It is, I think, all of us doing our part that helps real change to come about.”

“And we cannot stop these efforts,” he added. “The city, groups, churches, and neighborhoods [all] have to work together to stop the senseless loss and disrespect of life.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265573/baltimore-archdiocese-holds-third-annual-gun-buyback-program-amid-declining-gun-crime