A former candidate for mayor in Tucson, Ariz., has raised thousands of dollars in a campaign aimed at buying guns to distribute for free to residents who live in high-crime communities.
Shaun McClusky has raised $12,000 so far, the Arizona Daily Star reports. And that’s just in the first 60 days after kicking off the campaign.
Mr. McClusky tells the newspaper that the expense — about $400 per person for firearm, ammunition and training — is well worth it.
“We need to take back our city, and it needs to come back to the citizens and not the criminals,” he said, adding that the plan is to pay for each gun recipient to undergo a background check, too.
Not everyone approves.
One councilman calls the idea “pure idiocy” and denies that “giving away loaded shotguns in high-crime areas will make anybody safer,” as Newser reports.
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It’s not the first such program in the nation, however. Mr. McClusky says a University of Houston graduate student actually ran a similar program, the Armed Citizen Project, Newser reports.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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