Posted on 03/28/2007 12:45:24 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY Police in the Mexican capital have kicked off a campaign to exchange guns for computers and other gifts in an attempt to reduce firearm deaths.
On the first day of the program in Tepito, a neighborhood known for drug dealing and street markets rife with contraband, officers collected 29 guns Tuesday and gave out several desktop computers along with packets of food and cash.
"Imagine how Mexico City would be if there were no guns," Mexico City Public Safety Secretary Joel Ortega said. "This is a barrio known for boxing champions, and now it has turned into a barrio where there were 32 murders last year."
The gun exchange program is part of a crackdown on crime by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, who has sent in thousands of police to tackle crime gangs in Tepito and other rough neighborhoods.
The campaign comes as President Felipe Calderon has led an offensive against crime on a national level, sending more 24,000 police and soldiers to areas where drug gangs have been fighting.
Me too. I've got a 1980 manufacture computer around, I'd swap for a 1980 manufacture gun
Doesn't the swap work the other way around?
Imagine how Mexico City would be if Mexico City Public Safety Secretary Joel Ortega's bodyguards had no guns.
I've got a couple of old computers. What's the offer.
A plastic one shot .22 pistol.
They can do a little better than that:
Mexican Army FX-05 Xiuhcoatl [means *Fire Serpent* in the Nahuatl language] assault rifle:
I don't care if they ARE giving away guns. They're not getting my computer.
Heh. I was thinking the same thing!
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