Mexico City Starts 'Games for Guns' Campaign

eldavojohn writes "Strange as it may sound, Mexico City is giving it their all in their efforts to crack down on gun related violence. The chief of police has 'announced that anyone prepared to surrender a high-calibre weapon, such as a machine gun, will receive a free computer in exchange. And, perhaps in the interests of scale and fair play, anyone turning in a smaller calibre handgun will be presented with either cash remuneration or an Xbox videogame console.'"

Comments

Gun buy-back programs DO NOT WORK

[Scutter]

They have been consistently proven to be ineffective in reducing gun-related crime (leaving aside the severe penalties for possessing a weapon in Mexico).

The bad guys don't want to turn in their guns. Not for a couple of Lakers tickets, not for an XBOX360 (that they probably already have anyway). Legitimate, legal gun owners are not about to hand over a gun that cost many hundreds of dollars for what amounts to a trinket.

The only guns that get turned in are old junk that's rusting away in a closet, or some little old widow who's late husband had a gun and she doesn't know what to do with it.