Mexico City offers exchange of cash, toys for guns

Monday, December 24, 2012

A sign that reads in Spanish "For your family: Voluntary disarmament" advertises a government program that exchanges people's guns for things like bicycles, computers, tablets and money, on Christmas Eve in the Iztapalapa neighborhood of Mexico City, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012. Mexico City is sponsoring a program offering cash, toys and computer gear in exchange for guns in the rough neighborhood after a 10-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet as he sat inside a movie theater. The borough has been plagued by violent crime and people firing guns into the air during concerts and celebrations. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

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MEXICO CITY -- Mexico City is sponsoring a program offering cash, toys and computer equipment in exchange for guns in a rough neighborhood where a 10-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet as he sat inside a movie theater.

The program in the borough of Iztapalapa is dubbed "For Your Family: Voluntary Disarmament."

Borough president Jesus Valencia wrote in his Twitter account Monday that residents had turned in 27 rifles and 65 pistols.

The borough has been plagued by violent crime and people firing guns into the air during concerts and celebrations.

In November, 10-year-old Hendrik Cuacuas was hit in the head by a 9-mm bullet during the Disney film "Wreck-It Ralph."

Prosecutors said the round was fired from outside the theater, and spent bullets were found on the roof.

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mexico, shooting, guns, child death, children, national/world