In Mexico, a country plagued by drug cartel violence, the mayor of the capital city is offering residents cash, new bikes and computers in exchange for their guns. He says the buyback program will get dangerous weapons out of the hands of residents and make the streets safer.
But not all mayors in Mexico — where it's extremely difficult to legally buy a gun — are rushing to replicate the program. In fact, in cities overrun by drug traffickers, some say law-abiding citizens should be able to have them for protection.
On a recent day during the buyback, Florentino Olmos sits in a line of folding chairs on the huge esplanade of Mexico City's Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On his lap is a .22-caliber automatic pistol. He and about two dozen other armed residents wait their turn to hand over the weapons, no questions asked, to a member of the Mexican army.
Olmos, 53, drives a taxi for a living. He says he got the pistol about a year ago after a traffic accident. The guy who hit him couldn't pay for the damage to Olmos' car, so instead gave him the pistol as collateral. The guy never came back.
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