The Virginian-Pilot
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CHESAPEAKE
Gun-buyback programs aim to get firearms away from criminals but tend to attract legal guns. Police hope to get exactly what they're looking for later this summer by tempting tipsters instead.
A new program will trade $100 cash for information about illegal guns.
"There are certain people who create a lot of problems for us," said Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin Wright. Those include gun-toting felons and teens as well as people who have been ruled mentally incompetent or who lack a permit for a concealed weapon.
A $10,000 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant will fund the program, which will work much like Crime Line.
Callers are promised anonymity, said Lt. T.M. Foster, and the goal is to use the same number - 1-888-Lock-U-Up - to report illegal guns.
The program will target the Second Precinct in South Norfolk, where most of the city's gun violence occurs, Wright said.
"That's where we hope to flood the area with fliers," said Foster, who was tasked with coordinating the program.
He based it on a similar initiative in Miami called the Gun Bounty Program, which was launched through that area's Crime Stoppers and offers up to $1,000 for tips that lead to arrests.
The Chesapeake program is the third in recent years aimed at recovering illegal guns.
Wright commissioned the Illegal Firearm Interdiction Program pin earlier this year to recognize officers adept at seizing the weapons. He awarded four in March.
The police department hosted a gun buyback in December 2008. Residents handed over 309 firearms.
"Gun buybacks work," Wright said, "but not as well as you would hope."
Critics say such efforts generally attract law-abiding citizens; that the programs are too costly; and that some people just use the money toward better guns. Chesapeake police tried to limit that by accepting handguns only and offering $100 gift cards rather than cash.
Police confiscated more than 150 illegal guns in 2009, according to department statistics
"We've seen the damage guns in the hands of the wrong people can do," Wright said, noting the shooting death of a 16-year-old Great Bridge High School student a week ago.
Police charged a 15-year-old with involuntary manslaughter in the case.
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com
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Paying for snitches
In keeping with the current government's thinking, it is simply wrong to profile people that may or may not have illegal guns. And so what if the guns are illegal, i think we should give them all amnesty, especially if they will vote the way we want them too.
3K to 4K is a starter price
for a Mac or a Sten. I like the Uzi for about 7K. Sub guns are the most fun to shoot. I was trying to keep my post short and to the point when I mentioned 3K to 4K as a price. Most people have a hard time believing that anyone would spend 10K plus on a gun.
to me it's not about the $100
it's about getting the illegal guns off the streets
If your a felon, you
If your a felon, you shouldn't have a gun to start with.We know a guy who is a convicted felon,who knows he should not have a gun and brags to everyone that he has it......guess you really can't fix stupid.
Known Felon.
Do you commonly aid felons?
If your a felon
"If your a felon, you shouldn't have a gun to start with. We know a guy who is a convicted felon,who knows he should not have a gun and brags to everyone that he has it......guess you really can't fix stupid."
Then I would say that if you are that concerned about this particular situation you should take advantage of this program, drop a dime on this convicted felon, and get yourself the easy $100. However, one shouldn’t need a financial incentive to do the right thing. It never ceases to amaze me the number enablers that Felons have looking the other way as they go about their Felonry.
If he lives in Chesapeake
If he lives in Chesapeake you can, and get yourself $100 at the same time. I am just not sure about this program, I guess we'll have to see if it works.
Good comment Santa, Except...
Machine guns are LEGAL if you do the paperwork and pay the $200 tax. However, the gun will cost you 3K to 4K(yes that's thousand) and you still have to find a place to shoot the gun, since most ranges don't allow full auto's.
If you know where to buy Legal MG's for $3-$4k
Would you let me know where to buy legally transferable Machine Guns for between $3000 and $4000 dollars other than a low-end Cobray or Mac 10 “bullet hose” sub-machine gun?
A "real" legally transferrable M-16, AK-47, MP-5 or any other full-auto weapon normally used by the Military & Police is going to run not only into the 3 or 4thousands, but ten thousand plus. This is because of a silly rider added onto the Gun Owners Protection Act of 1986 which made the production of legally transferable machine-guns illegal, even though they’ve never really been part of the firearms used criminally. Last time I looked, since 1934 when Machine Guns became strictly controlled items, there has only been one murder with a legally owned one, and that was by a Police Officer who killed his wife with one. So once again our leaders go after something that isn’t part of the problem they think they are dealing with.
Inflation.
Prices have gone way up. I remember suppressed MP-5's at $10K. Double paper work applied, one set for gun one for suppressor,.