FROM: Terry Lynch@aol.com; POB 241035; Montgomery, AL 36124-1035
Phone: (334) 272-4217 voice, 270-0926 fax 

DATE:  March 5, 1998 

TO:  Letter to the Editor      WORD COUNT: 200

REF:  Children and Guns: Buy Guns Back From Kids

In a recent editorial the MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER sited the problem 
of children with guns and suggested that a plan is needed to 
solve this problem. If it is possible for children to buy guns on 
the streets of Montgomery for $25.00 then it doesn't take a 
genius to develop a plan to get all these cheap guns off the 
streets.  Here are several ideas:

1.  Have an on going community wide, well advertised gun buy back 
program with no questions asked of juveniles who turn in guns 
they bought from street dealers.

2.  Use under cover cops to buy guns and video tape the buys.  
Then use this evidence to put the street gun dealers away for a 
long, long time.

3.  Offer rewards for any children who turn in other children 
with guns.  Offer higher rewards for children who turn in gun 
dealers.  This will make gun dealers think twice before they 
peddle illegal firearms on the streets.  It will also make it 
more profitable to turn in a dealer then to buy a gun, especially 
if rewards include a percentage of any drug monies confiscated in 
the bust.  Or said drug monies could go into the rewards fund to 
buy more guns.

If our police and community leaders are not doing these simple 
things to get illegal guns out of the hands of children, then we 
need to get on the ball and change our elected representatives.  
Perhaps our mayor, who, along with his wife is a handgun 
advocate, needs to be replaced with a younger, more energetic and 
creative person who takes such issues seriously. There is 
absolutely no excuse for permitting large numbers of children to 
illegally acquire handguns.  We can't blame it on drugs, on crack 
or on irresponsible parents.  The blame must go to the community 
leaders and the police who, under their leadership, have not the 
imagination, creativity or the initiative to take whatever action 
is necessary to end the illegal proliferation of cheap handguns 
on our streets!


Sincerely,
Terry Lynch
 Montgomery, AL