Harrisburg officials recently implemented a “gun buyback program.” The program will offer those who turn in a person carrying an illegal weapon with a sum of money.

The city Mayor Linda Thompson has long been under scrutiny for controversial decisions, specifically regarding financial plans.

This is due in large part to the current economic crisis facing the city, seemingly ever since she defeated longtime Mayor Stephen Reed in the 2009 election.

With the recent homicides occurring in the city, her recent proposal of a gun buyback program is a step in the right direction.

The program will give monetary rewards in increments of $50, $100 and $200 for insightful tips on illegal gun usage. Fifty dollars will be given for information that leads to a recovery of an illegal gun, $100 for one which leads to an arrest and a sum of $200 for a tip to police leading to multiple guns and multiple arrests.

One of the components of the program is to turn in a family member.

Although this may seem harsh or irrational, it evidently settles down to a way to keep that person safe as well as simultaneously being concerned for the safety of others.

As of late, the Harrisburg nightly news is seemingly flooded with adolescents shooting and killing innocent victims. Certainly having access to guns and weapons can run deeper than this program may allow.

We must ultimately admit that although one may be handling a gun, it does not necessarily have to belong to him or her.

However, if “bribing” one with a monetary reward can motivate even one individual to remove a single weapon from the street, perhaps that is the start the city needs to advance the effort in becoming a safer place.

Money truly makes the world go round, and in today’s society, specifically in the city of Harrisburg, this program has what it needs to facilitate the seemingly newfound dangers on the streets.
Though crime is not a newly recognized concept and has been around since the beginning of human existance, the accessibility to these weapons has recently increased and is thus a newly recognized sense of availability.

A closer look at the streets of the city so close to ours reveals solid proof that officials are putting a stop to the madness.

The profitable restaurant row on Second Street shows that officials are fed up with that madness.
The closing down of Club Dragonfly, a popular, multicultural, urban hot-spot is just one indication of their push to make the city a safer environment. Recent fatal shootings just outside of the club, coupled with all of the fights and trouble it brings on a weekly basis has prompted city officials to close the club.

Perhaps the club closing and the newly implemented buyback program will instill much needed reality checks to some of the punks in the area. These are the steps that are vital in helping wipe the city clean of crime and violence and help restore it to a sense of dignity and prominence.
The city that holds our state’s capital is bankrupt and has advancing crime rates, higher than surrounding cities.

Is this the reputation we want our state to have?

Needless to say, the buyback program can have a tremendous impact on the overall safety of the city. With a recent report placing Harrisburg as the 20th most dangerous city in the U.S, the city of Philadelphia, more commonly associated with crime was ranked 52.

Undoubtedly, the buyback program will successfully eliminate some of the violence in the area.
It is a win-win situation for the city.

Despite the financial position of Harrisburg and its bankruptcy, the payment for people turning illegal carriers in is a small price to pay to help keep its residents safe.

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