by William K. Rashbaum, New York Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that the Police Department would pay $100 to anyone who turns in a handgun, sawed-off shotgun or assault weapon to the police, as part of the department’s efforts to reverse an increase in shootings around the city.
Mr. Bloomberg, who announced the program at City Hall with Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, said the recent rise in shootings in the city was “worrisome,” despite continued significant declines in homicide, as well as other crimes, and a steep increase in arrests for gun possession.
Under the buyback program, anyone can anonymously bring an operable weapon to a station house and receive a voucher that can be redeemed for $100 in cash. Mr. Kelly said the initiative would run for a month, but could be extended.
“We don’t want to know your name, we don’t want to know why you have a gun,” Mr. Kelly said. “If you bring in a weapon, you will remain totally anonymous. We just want more guns off the streets, and we’re ready to pay cash for them.”
The program was announced after a day in which six people were shot in eight hours, an unusually large number for such a period of time. On average, there are about four shootings a day, a senior police official said. Shootings are up 22.3 percent in the city through Sunday, to 498 this year from 407 in the same period last year.
The number of shooting victims has increased 28.5 percent, to 572 this year from 445 last year.
The buyback plan is meant to complement another program announced last month, which pays $1,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest for gun possession, Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Kelly has also taken other measures to reduce shootings, including sending more gun-possession cases to federal court, where conviction carries a longer sentence. He has also added detectives to two units that investigate gun dealers.
The department first used the gun buyback strategy in the early 1990’s and most recently in 1999, when officials found it to be very effective. Garry F. McCarthy, the deputy police commissioner for crime-control strategies, said the month after a similar 30-day program was put in place in mid-July 1999, shootings in the city dropped by 15.8 percent.
Officials said such programs were largely aimed at noncriminals who have guns in their homes and at parents who may find guns belonging to their children.
But City Councilman David Yassky, a Democrat from Brooklyn, argued that buyback programs were ineffective and said the department should assign more detectives to gun trafficking cases to stanch the flow of illegal guns coming into New York City. He said he planned to introduce legislation today that would hold gun manufacturers accountable for distribution practices that allow guns to enter the illegal market.