Disney May Offer Ducks Tickets for Guns

Putting a Disney spin to the nation’s gun exchange craze, the entertainment giant is expected to announce later this week that it will swap Mighty Ducks hockey tickets for guns turned into the Anaheim Police Department.

“We feel this is one more way to get guns off the streets,” Anaheim Police Capt. Stan Kantor said. “We think this will be a good program . . . anything we can do to get guns off the streets is good.”

A spokesman for the Ducks team, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., confirmed that the team is close to agreement with the city on how to conduct the gun trade-in, adding that Friday’s Ducks home game against the Los Angeles Kings might be the proper forum for the announcement.

“I can’t say much right now. We are considering it. We expect to have an announcement later this week,” said Mighty Ducks spokesman Bill Robertson.

“But it’s not final yet,” he said. “We’re still working with the Anaheim police on a couple issues. It still needs to be ironed out. There’s a chance it will be tabled until next year.”

Gun trade-in programs have been turning up around the country in the past several months. Increasingly, private businesses have stepped in to donate cash or services to entice people to turn in their guns.

In New York, more than 1,000 people turned in pistols, assault rifles and other firearms in a toys-for-guns exchange that was run around the December holidays. A Los Angeles program, also in December, netted 110 rifles, 251 handguns, two assault rifles and 49 shotguns from people who swapped them for tickets to concerts and sporting events.

Last month, the police departments in Costa Mesa and Orange got together with a local carwash owner to offer free washes and wax jobs for guns. So far, no guns have been turned in at Orange; Costa Mesa has received six firearms.

Police Capt. Kantor declined to discuss details of the Disney program, referring such inquiries to the Ducks organization.

Robertson said that one of the issues being discussed is how many tickets will be given per gun. One of Disney’s concerns is that an overwhelming response to a gun exchange would outstrip the number of available tickets for the remaining 13 home games, he said.

Attendance at the Ducks’ home games has been impressive this year. The team has already registered 14 sellouts in 28 home games, averaging 16,829 fans in the new, 17,174-seat Anaheim Arena. The Ducks have announced that they expect to sell out all their home games and that for many games only single seats are still available.

Robertson declined to say which games might be involved in the trade-in.

Bret Colson, spokesman for the city of Anaheim, also declined to discuss details of the exchange program.

Arena officials said Disney has discussed the idea of having a gun-exchange program with them, but they did not know the particulars.

Ever since the fledgling franchise entered the National Hockey League this season, the Walt Disney Co. has been busy cross-promoting the Ducks with Disneyland, trying to create and capitalize on links to the community.

Disney has a huge investment in Anaheim, and concern about crime’s impact on tourism is widespread in Southern California. Although Anaheim’s major-crime rate was down 5% in 1992 compared to 1991, it was still the third worst among the large cities in the county. Only Santa Ana and Garden Grove were worse.

Recently, Disney officials said they were looking into building an ice rink in Anaheim. As conceived, the rink would be a joint venture with the city and be used as a practice facility for the Ducks as well as a community center for youth.

“I don’t think they made any secrets that they want to extend their presence in the community,” Colson said. “It makes sense for them to try and cultivate fans at an early age. Disney has always been a good corporate citizen and this would be a logical extension of that philosophy.”

Robertson agreed.

“Disney wants to make an immediate impact with the organization in Orange County and Southern California area,” he said. “We want to give something back to the community and thank our fans for the overwhelming support they’ve showed us.”