Canadians Trade Guns for Cameras in Creative Anti-Violence Program

In addition to universal healthcare, Mounties and Rush, Canada can now add swapping guns for cameras to their list of wholesome bragging rights.

The program to reduce gun violence by promoting photography is called “Pixels for Pistols” and it aims to take guns off the streets by issuing a free Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH8 point-and-shoot camera to anyone who turns in a working firearm to the Winnipeg Police Service. Since the start of the month-long program on November 1, the department has already collected several hundred weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

“We’re recovering firearms by the hour,” says Jason Michalyshen, the spokesman for Winnipeg Police Service.

While Winnipeg is not known to be a particularly violent city (an average of 30 homicides a year), Michalyshen says the department wanted to provide an incentive for people to get rid of guns they no longer wanted or needed. Too often, he says, un-used guns are robbed from homes and end up in the wrong hands.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/11/trading-guns-for-cameras/