More Than 200 Guns Exchanged For Shoes
116 Guns Turned In Last Year
POSTED: 10:42 am EDT August 17, 2007
UPDATED: 1:49 pm EDT August 17, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. -- In an effort to get guns off the streets of Central Florida, officials are offering residents a free pair of shoes or a $50 gift card if they turn in a gun.
The annual Kicks-For-Guns campaign is being held on Friday at the Florida Citrus Bowl in downtown Orlando and at the Pine Castle Woman's Club, located at Oak Ridge Road and South Orange Avenue in Orange County.
This year, Orlando police, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Real Radio 104.1 and Rumba 100.3 are hosting the event.
As of 1:30 p.m., more than 200 guns had been turned in, officials said.
Last year, 116 guns were recovered.
"We needed shoes more than we needed a gun," a man who took his son to last year's event said.
"I have two kids in the house. It would be safer not to have it there than to keep it for a memento," Kim Ponder, who turned in her father's revolver, said.
Of the 116 guns turned in last year, three were stolen, including a Tec 9 machine gun, police said.
The program promotes a no-questions-asked policy.
"For the person that's not quite sure where that gun might of come from or they know exactly where it came from and they know it's stolen, today is the perfect day (to turn the gun in). We just want the guns off the street," Orlando police Chief Mike McCoy said.
Officials said they know the event will not to solve the violent crime problem in Central Florida but said it can make a dent in the problem.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Anyone have a piece of crap Bryco/Lorcin/Jennings jam-o-matic they don't want? Take it to the buyback and send the $50 to the CATO Institute. I'd like to think that some of this money might help strengthen our RKBA via the Parker case.
