Posted by John Byrne at 2:02 p.m.; last updated at 5:40 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley today urged Chicagoans to turn in firearms in exchange for a prepaid credit card, but the city is going to have to pass the hat to come up with enough money to cover the yearly program.
Anyone turning in an assault weapon May 8 at one of 22 locations (for a list, click here) around the city will receive a $100 prepaid card. The payment is $75 for a gun other than an assault weapon, and $10 for a BB gun, air gun or a replica gun, the mayor said at a news conference.
Two years ago, $130,000 was raised for the annual drive. Last year, it
was down to $69,000 in donations and the mayor said the poor economy
continues to drive down donations this year. About $46,000 has been raised so far this year for the program, with more than 150 businesses contributing, according to mayoral spokesman Lance Lewis.
"The economy is going down, that’s why," Daley said.
The mayor was joined by Terry Hillard, the former police superintendent who is a co-chairman of the gun turn-in program. Hillard urged people to donate, and called for more publicity to convince companies to take part.
"Call one person and ask them to come up with $50 or $75 or $100, to put toward this initiative, so we can make this a successful drive next Saturday," Hillard said.
While the city cut back the reward for guns other than assault rifles
to $50 last year, officials increased the payment by $25 this year to $75.
"We asked more
contributors to contribute more and more money to the program, we hope
to expand, to make it more reasonable," Daley said.
Critics have questioned the gun buyback program’s effectiveness, pointing out that people sometimes turn in broken weapons to get a reward.
Since the gun turn-in began in 2006, "almost 19,000 illegal guns" have
been collected, including 1,900 last summer, according to a city news
release.
To read last year’s story on the program, please click here.