The one-week program opens today. Anyone can bring a working gun into a city police station and exchange it for a voucher good for a pair of tickets to an upcoming 76ers game, no questions asked.dave asks, "Here are my questions: 1. Will they be forensically tested and used in criminal cases? Does no questions asked mean that someone could drop off a murder weapon with no repercussions? If not, this could be a fantastic sting. 2. How long before someone shows up at the Arena with a gun demanding free tickets?"
"If we get one [gun], it's a successful program," said Billy King , the team's president. "If we get one, if we get a thousand, whatever we get that's going to be good enough."
The city's murder rate spiked last year and is on a similar pace in 2006. There were 380 homicides in the city in 2005 -- the highest total in five years. There were 44 homicides in the city from Jan. 1 through Monday, just slightly off last year's pace.
The program is similar to one the 76ers ran in 1999. "Guns for Gear" brought in close to 900 guns in just three days.
I'm guessing a murderer isn't going to walk up to a bunch of cops, regardless of any potential forensics.
Posted by: dave on Feb 22nd, 2006 | 1:16pm