Guns-for-Toys Plays So Well in New York, It May Expand

In what has become a real-life Christmas fable, organizers of a special holiday program offering toys for guns said Monday they have been overwhelmed by the response and plan to expand it nationwide.

The four-day program netted 317 guns, from hunting rifles to a submachine gun, from people in the high-crime neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, an area plagued by drug trafficking.

Lines of gun owners formed over the weekend outside the police station where they exchanged their weapons for $100 gift certificates to the Toys R Us store chain.

The program, originally due to expire on Christmas, has been extended until Jan. 6, and officials say they will expand it to selected police stations in other parts of the city.

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., executive director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said at a news conference at the Washington Heights police station that the group would use its resources to create a national program.

*

“Every city needs a toys-for-guns program,” Chavis said.

Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would introduce legislation to extend tax breaks to companies that donate certificates to such programs. He said he had been in contact with the White House about a federal program.

Although New York, Los Angeles and other cities have tried various gun buyback programs, none has caught on like this plan, city officials say.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the news conference that the response was “tangible proof of the overwhelming and unexpected success of this program.”

Kelly had initially been dismissive of the idea, apparently believing it would have little effect in a city with a million guns, almost all illegal, in private hands.

“I’ve converted. I’m a believer,” Kelly said.