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Solution to guns: Buy them, no questions asked

Posted July 16, 2007 11:00 pm

City officials again will use the carrot approach to reducing the number of guns in Chicago, by offering a $100 pre-paid gift card for each weapon turned in this weekend.

Mayor Richard Daley said no questions will be asked Saturday of people who visit one of 23 locations designated as drop-off sites. The surrendered handguns, shotguns and rifles they leave behind will be destroyed by police.

"One of the best crime-fighting strategies at our disposal is very simple - getting guns off our streets ... and out of the hands of people who, unfortunately, would misuse them," Daley said during a news conference at a Near North Side church.

Some 4,300 guns have been collected through the annual "Gun Turn-In" events, according to Vance Henry, director of the police department's Chicago Community Policing Alternative Strategies. CAPS and religious leaders serve as sponsors, with corporate support.

Chicago prohibits residents from keeping handguns, unless they were registered with police before 1983. Nonetheless, guns are involved in 80 percent of the city's murders, Daley said. To date, there have been 225 homicides in Chicago, the police department said.

Proponents of the gun-amnesty program emphasized the toll that gun violence has taken on young people. So far this year, several Chicago students have perished in gang-related shootings.

"Every gun turned in is potentially another life saved," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who joined Daley Tuesday.

Drop-off sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For information about locations, call (312) 744-5000.

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