BBC : Missile dumped at US gun amnesty

Missile dumped at US gun amnesty

August 18, 2007

A man in Florida surprised police by handing in a surface-to-air missile launcher during a gun amnesty in the city of Orlando.

Under the no-questions-asked scheme, "Kicks for Guns", anyone who surrendered a firearm would receive trainers or $50 (£25).

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper said the man exchanged the rocket launcher for designer footwear for his daughter.

He told the newspaper he found the 4ft (1.2m) weapon in a shed last week.

The unidentified man said he had tried in vain to get rid of the launcher, which is designed to blow aircraft out of the sky.

"I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it and they told me to get lost."

"I didn't know what to do with it, so I brought it here," he told the newspaper.

Besides the missile launcher, Orlando Police collected more than 310 guns during the amnesty.

After inspecting the rocket launcher, police spokeswoman Sgt Barbara Jones said: "I tell you, you never know what you're going to get."