Mighty Ducks to Take a Shot at Tickets for Guns : Public safety: Anaheim hockey team will offer 2 passes for each firearm Feb. 19. L.A. Kings plan similar effort.

National Hockey League officials Thursday praised the Mighty Ducks organization for joining the gun-exchange movement and said the team’s program should be adopted throughout the league.

“We applaud the Ducks for jumping in there and being the first team to do this,” said Bernadette Mansur, an NHL spokeswoman. “If it’s a good idea, like this one, it should be for everybody.”

And the Los Angeles Kings are doing just that. The Kings confirmed Thursday that they, too, are planning a similar tickets-for-guns program.

“We hope to implement it before the end of the season,” said Rick Minch, Kings director of media relations. Details of the Kings program, he said, were not available.

Mighty Ducks officials said they are fine-tuning their program, and are planning to hold a one-day tickets-for-guns exchange on Feb. 19 at the Anaheim Police Department between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The Ducks will offer two tickets for every firearm surrendered.

An official announcement by the team, with the full details, is expected today.

Although community leaders and police widely hail gun buyback programs as a way to make the streets safer, some law enforcement authorities have questioned their effectiveness.

“I don’t think any of them are a success,” said Jim Fotis, executive director of the Falls Church, Va.-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America Inc. “The average age of the firearm being turned in is 50 years old (from) people who just have an old gun lying around the house.”

Sometimes, Fotis said, so-called “politically correct” trade-in programs actually create crime because people will steal guns that they can exchange for money, toys or even tickets.

The NRA has remained neutral on gun exchange programs.

“Our general position is that as long as it’s voluntary, they can do whatever they want,” said NRA spokesman Bill Powers. “I’m sure a lot of members don’t like it, and I’m sure a lot of people who are not our members don’t like it either.”

Local law enforcement officials generally welcome the Ducks program.

Anaheim Police Capt. Stan Kantor said he thinks the gun exchange is a good idea, but he doesn’t expect to “see any gangbanger handing over a gun for a couple Ducks tickets.”

Still, he said removing guns that could eventually end up on the streets was a worthwhile endeavor.

“We’re going into unplowed ground,” Kantor said. “The program may not be as successful as we’d like, but it’s worth a shot.”

Allan B. Hughes, executive director of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, is supportive but aware that similar efforts nationwide have experienced problems.

“I’ve heard of some unhappy experiences where people buy cheap guns to get whatever the trade-in item is,” he said. The value of a single Ducks ticket ranges from $16 to $125.

Despite its potential flaws, Hughes said he thought an exchange program would benefit the community and local businesses.

“We feel very strongly that crime is one of our major problems in the city, and if this can protect the police and make the community safer, we’re all for it,” he said.

Mighty Ducks spokesman Bill Robertson said the team has received numerous calls from the public about the exchange.

“It’s been mostly positive,” he said. A couple callers, however, were concerned that the exchange would occur at the Anaheim Arena. But that is not the case.

Mansur, the NHL spokeswoman, said league officials have been encouraging teams to establish tickets-for-guns programs over the past several months, and many teams are interested.

“The Kings are going to be right behind the Ducks,” she said, adding that the Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres and other teams are currently considering gun exchanges.

Tickets for Hartford Whalers games were part of a statewide tickets-for-guns exchange program in Connecticut, a couple months ago, but Mansur said the team did not organize the event.

In Orange County, the Ducks are not the only ones getting into the act.

Recently, the cities of Costa Mesa and Orange joined in a carwash to offer automobile wash-and-wax jobs for guns. About a half a dozen guns have been turned in so far.

Earlier this week, the owners of nine Orange County Aamco Transmission Centers announced they would give service vouchers worth $75 in exchange for guns. The program starts Monday and will continue for one week. One of the service stations is in Anaheim. The guns must be turned in to participating police departments in Anaheim, Brea, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana or Tustin.

Capt. Kantor said the Ducks and Aamco programs will probably overlap.

“I guess it will depend on what the person wants,” Kantor said. “Tickets or transmission service.”