Friday, March 30, 2007

Mexico City Program Unveils Program To Increase Thefts

I wonder if you can turn in an Xbox for a gun if you promise to take it out of Mexico City? Now that'd be a "turn-in" program I could support.

I'm sure they make the criminals promise not to steal more guns to turn in.

Mexico City is offering to give an Xbox video game console anyone who turns in a gun:
Police who have raided vice-ridden Mexico City neighborhoods in a push against drug violence hope to take guns off the streets by offering to swap them for computers and video-game consoles.

Launching the program Tuesday in the notorious inner-city barrio of Tepito, which police stormed last month, city police chief Joel Ortega said anyone who turns in a high-caliber weapon like a machine gun will get a computer.

Owners can swap smaller guns for cash or Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox video-game consoles under the plan.

I would, of course, prefer to see folks taking out virtual baddies in Halo than fellow citizens on the city streets. But, as Techdirt points out, the plan is likely to backfire:
The hope is that this will get guns off the street, reducing crime. Of course, it could just mean that folks with guns will now be stealing more guns in order to get an Xbox while keeping a gun on the side (just in case).

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