Turn in your guns in exchange for Beyoncé tickets—why didn't anyone think of this sooner?
Family Tree Entertainment leader Michael "Blue" Williams has presented New York City's first "private-sector gun buyback program" to the NYPD, and it would involve turning in guns in exchange for tickets and mentoring. Williams wants to start the program, called “Guns for Greatness," at a Brooklyn church on March 23.
Williams is still waiting on approval from NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, who says that police presence at the buyback is a must. “You need police officers present. You’d need the expertise,” Kelly asserted. In a letter to Kelly, Williams explained the reach of the program:
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Kelly seems open to any solution to removing guns from New York's streets. “We want to get as many guns off the streets, and if this works, we’d like to support it,” he said, noting that he'd need to sit with Williams' proposal for more time before making a decision.
Beyoncé has a show at the Barclays Center in August, and Jay-Z will play Yankee Stadium in July with Justin Timberlake. According to the New York Daily News, Williams wants to involve Jay-Z in the program as well, "once police sign off on it."
Williams, 43, says that this will mirror the NYPD's program that offers as much as $250 in cash for weapons turned in anonymously and without any questions asked. Williams definitely has the right idea, as the promise of Jay-Z and Beyoncé will certainly illicit a positive response.
[via NY Daily News]
