BRAMPTON BUYBACK
Councillor calls for city to pay $100 per gun turned in, up to $300 Brampton Councillor Charmaine Williams wants the city to pay cash for guns.
Peel Region police will consider councillor’s motion to offer $100 per gun turned in,
Brampton councillors are considering a cash-for-guns program this May to boost this year’s gun amnesty run by Peel Region police.
Councillor Charmaine Williams (wards 7 and 8) recently introduced a motion asking that money be found for the city to pay $100 per gun turned in, up to a maximum of $300 per person.
“I believe it’s time we have a creative Brampton solution for the Brampton problem of gun violence,” Williams said in an interview. “And I think it’s important that we realize that not all gun violence is gang violence.”
To those who criticize the idea because they say criminals won’t turn in their weapons, Williams points out that suicides, accidents and domestic violence can all involve gun-related deaths and injuries that can be reduced by getting guns out of local homes. “We know gang members won’t hand in their guns,” Wil- liams said. “What we will get are the unwanted firearms that are in Brampton homes right now and at risk of being stolen or used in suicides or accidental shootings.”
Peel Region police Chief Chris McCord said he will discuss the amnesty at the March 27 council meeting, adding, “we are always open to new initiatives that may assist in making guns less accessible to criminals and enhancing public safety in our community.”
City staff will report back to council later this month.
“I welcome any idea that will help reduce violence in our community, so I’m open-minded toward it (a gun buyback), but I’d like to hear what the chief has to say,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said.
“If the police tell us that a gun buyback will get illegal guns off the streets, then I’m all for it.
“The chief said he’s going to bring to us statistics on what he believes would be guns used in the process of crime versus those that would be old relics or hunting (guns),” Brown said.
Williams campaigned on a platform of public safety and called for a buyback program in her election platform.
“To me, it’s the perfect government program because if it doesn’t work, if we don’t get guns in, it doesn’t cost the taxpayers money,” she said.
In the last two amnesties, Brampton and Mississauga residents turned in a total of 104 guns, according to Peel police.
“They got zero dollars and still handed the guns in,” Williams said. “So $100 will double or triple the success of the amnesty because it’s an incentive.”
Toronto police have used incentives in the past. Since 2008, the service has twice partnered with Henry’s Cameras for a “Pixels for Pistols” campaign, handing out gift cards for a point-and-shoot digital camera to those who turned in firearms. Toronto police Insp. Chris Boddy said those two campaigns were a success, with approximately 2,000 firearms turned in during the 2008 campaign and about 500 in 2013.
The gift card incentive, he said, helped bring in handguns, rifles and historic guns.
“It made a difference for sure,” Boddy said. “Because we had done them (gun amnesties) prior to the Pixels for Pistols with no incentive, and we got very little uptake.”
He said people “just want a little bit of value” for something they’ve had for years.
But when asked if amnesties or buybacks make the streets safer, he said it isn’t clear.
“It’s hard to say if it does or not, but what we can say is each one of these (unwanted) firearms sitting in people’s homes are often insecure, and they do get stolen by criminals and used,” he said.
Boddy said the amnesties are aimed at those who have inherited guns or even, as in several cases in Toronto, have found handguns hidden behind walls during renovations.
“People get stuck with them, they don’t know what to do, they’re too responsible to throw them in the garbage and they think if they call the police they’ll get in trouble,” he said. “So, this is just a way for people to safely get rid of them.”
Every two years since 2015, Peel police have run a gun amnesty. Last year, they joined police services across the province for an OPP-led amnesty.