Fayetteville police, clergy hold city's 1st gun buyback
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- Hundreds of guns are now in the hands of Fayetteville police, after word spread about a gun buyback program organized by a concerned clergyman.
In fact, Rev. Mark Rowden told ABC11, the $30,000 in gift cards offered in exchange for those weapons went quickly Saturday, but people who turned in guns accepted IOUs.
Rowden, the senior pastor for the Savannah Missionary Baptist Church, is a man on a mission.
"Number one, get as many weapons off the street as we possibly can, that's the goal," he said.
That mission's accomplished now and Fayetteville Police Chief Harold Medlock is happy with the results. His officers received the guns, made sure they weren't loaded, and recorded the serial numbers.
"We're checking to see if the weapon is stolen, for our records. But we're also cataloging that as being run through the DCI operations to make sure the weapon has not been involved in some crime. Even if it has, the car continues on. We just want that for our records," Medlock said.
Rowden's work to make Fayetteville a safer city won't stop with the gun buyback.
"We're gonna deal with the economic piece, we're gonna deal with the mentoring piece, we're gonna deal with the parenting piece," he said. "So all of these are goals and objectives, for the clergy to stop the violence."
