Chicago Launches New $250,000 Fund To 'Buy Back' Illegal Guns

By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 19, 2015 4:10PM

After another violent weekend in Chicago, city officials are making another push to get guns off the streets. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to announce a new $250,000 fund for community-based gun buy-back events across the city.

Churches and neighborhood organizations will be able to partner with the city to host buy-back events in their communities, in which people in possession of firearms can hand them over to the city in exchange for cash. The city used to solely run the events one location at a time.

In order to access the fund, neighborhood organizations can apply directly to the Chicago Police Department and will be in charge of marketing and advertising the event themselves, according to ABC7. Police will be on hand to collect the guns and to provide cash cards for the weapons turned in.

Experts say it's unclear that government gun buy-back programs do anything to curb gun violence. Not enough weapons are turned in to actually make a dent in the hundreds of millions of firearms owned by Americans, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Chicago police routinely tout the thousands of illegal guns they seize off the streets.