Mexico City Will Give You An Xbox If You Hand Over Your Gun

from the seems-like-a-fair-trade dept

Fri, Mar 30th 2007 1:12am — Mike Masnick

Apparently police in Mexico City have decided that they might as well try the "carrot" approach, rather than the "stick" in dealing with local drug violence. They're now offering Xboxes and computers to people who turn in guns (via Engadget). The hope is that this will get guns off the street, reducing crime. Of course, it could just mean that folks with guns will now be stealing more guns in order to get an Xbox while keeping a gun on the side (just in case).

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

23 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

joe, 30 Mar 2007 @ 1:24am

ok ok ok, check this out
So you get some crappy gun that hardly even works, for like $50, or maybe you even have a crappy gun lying around. Whatever. So what you do is take that gun, get yourself a computer or an xbox, sell it (ya feel me?) and buy a better gun!

Free gun upgrades in Mexico City!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lee, 30 Mar 2007 @ 1:30am

So, the hombre who keeps his gun takes your xbox. He now has a gun and an xbox.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
gordon, 30 Mar 2007 @ 1:48am

Which Xbox????
Yeh...
no one is given any info on whether these r the new Xbox 360's or the old Original Xbox...
it would b an ok deal if it was the 360... =)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nick, 30 Mar 2007 @ 1:49am

What if...?
Has anyone considered the possibility that maybe these hard-bitten, feuding desperados might actually turn to Xbox Live to settle their differences in future?

There are a number of titles they might enjoy; GRAW2 springs to mind, where they get to shoot up a Mexican border town...and no-one gets hurt...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Brain O´Conner, 30 Mar 2007 @ 1:58am

Yeah...!
It´s great!! I would give up my old Gun an get a XBox^^ So I had a gun an a XBox =) *hihi*

Or I would give up 2 Guns an got 2 Xbox´s =)
Then 1 up to ebay...^^
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jason, 30 Mar 2007 @ 2:03am

LOL.....
Right, so the criminal element turns in the gun they ALREADY stole, gets a free xbox, sells it for $50, buys some crack, and then in a cracked up rage breaks into a respectable citizens home and steals a legal gun. BAM, right back where they started, with another crime committed. Do they realize how many guns they have to buy back to save ONE measly human life? Here is a link that may strike your fancy (and I'm not even in Austraila): http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/buyback-has-no-effect-on-murder-rate/2006/10/23/1161455665717.ht ml . There are plenty of other studies here (in the USA) that have the same results: gun buy-backs DO NOT work. People want, people get. It is ONLY the lawless who benefit from such laws. Just remember, a government scared of armed citizens is a government up to NO GOOD. One of the first things Hitler did was confiscate all the guns via a registration program. As crazy as it may sound, I personally advocate EVERY citizen's right to keep and bear arms, regardless of criminal history.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
William McCaffrey, 30 Mar 2007 @ 2:08am

Wow! Inventive way to commoditize a platform, and ultimately sell the games. "Give away the razor to sell the blades", only with a fantastic PR spin.

Those marketing guys in Redmond are genuses!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
w00t, 30 Mar 2007 @ 2:50am

LOLz I like senerio 1 n 2 best yippeee gun upgrades and a xbox LOL dam I'm movin to mehiico :D
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2007 @ 3:11am

Re: LOL.....
or a government looking to reduce the amount of murders

and wouldn't Hitler of confiscated those weapons so his army could possibly of used them
[ link to this | view in thread ]
fpthree, 30 Mar 2007 @ 4:58am

Simply Put...
That's just stupid. How is it these people are allowed to run a country?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Criminals..., 30 Mar 2007 @ 5:06am

lol Here's what will happen:

More guns stolen
More Xboxes stolen
Everyone still has a gun to protect their Xbox from being ganked.

Ideas like this never work, because it's based on the premise that criminals cease to be so when their tools are removed--forgetting that it's a trait, not a cause.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
haywood, 30 Mar 2007 @ 5:25am

Re: Criminals
How true, The UK did mange to get most of the guns off the street, now knifing is all the rage. Take all the knives; it will be cricket bats. If it has to go down to sticks and stones, they will still commit the same crimes.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
interesting, 30 Mar 2007 @ 5:34am

hmm
I like the fact that most of the people posting have thought this through. Changing the criminals weapon does not change the criminal. I have literally seen where someone who didn't have a knife or a gun used a bat or lug wrench, or car to commit their crime. Some criminals are even macing their victims in order to rob them.
I agree that the heart of the problem is the heart of the criminal. If we can raise the morality and conscience of an individual, give him something higher than himself to live for, crime goes down, that much has been in evidence in studies as well.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
comboman, 30 Mar 2007 @ 5:36am

Viva Zapata!
The Mexican government has been trying to disarm the population since the days of Emilano Zapata and Pancho Villa. It's easier to maintain a corrupt government when the population can't fight back.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Neal, 30 Mar 2007 @ 6:09am

Same old
Different city, same old story. Two separate cities I've lived in here in the U.S. have done something similar. One was cash for hand guns and the other gift cards (if I recall correctly) for any gun.

In both cases the police praised the program's success in the newspapers and the tv news, but it was later revealed that something like 90% of the guns turned in were in such bad condition due to age, misuse, or other that they couldn't even be fired. Some were brought in part/pieces and others as rusty masses. The few functional guns brought in were old and inexpensive weapons that, while potentially lethal, weren't the guns that crooks carry on the streets.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Direct Textbooks, 30 Mar 2007 @ 6:50am

stupid on it's face
Anyone who used a gun for business is not going to trade it. Period. You are not packing heat at a drug trade if you are carrying an Xbox.

So effectively they have gotten a few guns from people who didn't care to have them, and greatly increased teh value of non-functioning guns. Sweet deal.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
SaX, 30 Mar 2007 @ 6:57am

Guns
Hahahah I like comment #9... The poster reminds me of our U.S. Politicians!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
me, 30 Mar 2007 @ 7:16am

Re: hmm
"Some criminals are even macing their victims in order to rob them."

Best idea yet; never thought about mace. Finally, I can turn in my gun and still ravage the general population.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Limerat, 30 Mar 2007 @ 7:19am

Re:
So very true.
They will just go get another gun and continue robbing people and get to practice their shooting skills on their XBox at night.
This is a seriously lame idea and in no way will it encourage criminals to stop being criminals.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
blackdog, 30 Mar 2007 @ 7:57am

Fantastic realism
If you only knew how we live in Mexico, how we see ourselves, and how the politicians, the police and the drug cartels are our everyday source of fear/laughs, you knew that this is just another sample of their deep misunderstanding of their own reality. We are used to it...
When you talk to them, look down, because they have their brains in their feet...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Geoff, 30 Mar 2007 @ 8:08am

Everyone is missing the point of this. The Mexican authorities clearly state that this program is aimed at getting high caliber guns (machine guns etc) off the streets. The people are not expected to turn in their lowly 9mm glocks etc, otherwise this program would never work!!!!

(Pardon my ignorance about calibers and mm if I got them wrong - my knowledge of guns stems from Law & Order - but don't try to rob me cause I also watched Kung Fu)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joel, 31 Mar 2007 @ 12:40am

What if....
Now, haven't you guy though "If they can afford to give away $700+ computers and xboxes, they can afford to bring in the mexican army for a raid and arrest them all. No wasted money. No xboxes stolen. No guns stolen. Government will look tough. Criminals might stop. If those mexicans can afford to get them comps and xboxes, they can afford M16's and grenades. Simple really. Save your money and just surpirse them. Give them criminals a party. then lock'em up and use the extra money for bigger guns in da jails. Simple, really."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
St0n3 T0aD, 31 Mar 2007 @ 6:17pm

Question
Are shooting games and plastic video game controller guns included in the deal?
[ link to this | view in thread ]