Gun Bounty: Earn $1000 for Turning in Illegal Gun Owners

By Kristin Smith First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- If Operation Safe Streets is getting the criminals off the streets, here comes a new program.

It's from JSO and the Chamber of Commerce.

It's called The Gun Bounty Program, and it's designed to get guns off the streets.

JSO didn't want to comment on it just yet, but Walter Lee from the Chamber of Commerce did give First Coast News an explainer.

"The bad guys that have these guns, who are using them or potentially using them to commit criminal acts or violent crimes are going to be turned in by their friends and neighbors who know that they have a gun," said Walter Lee, President of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

But Lee says both he and Sheriff John Rutherford know these people won't turn in their friends for free.

"There will be a pool of money set aside to pay people who turn in folks who have illegal weapons. It will be a significant amount of money," said Lee.

And it's not just the kind of money that'll buy you a meal at a nice restaurant.

Lee says they're looking at an amount around $1000.

"If a friend knows that he or she can turn this individual in for a sizable amount of money and do it anonymously, the police are able to take that tip, go out and make an arrest, get the bad guy, and get the gun along with him," said Lee.

Now, flashing an illegal gun just to be macho, Lee says, may not look so cool anymore.

"These guys will use their weapon as a sign of their manhood, and they'll try to use their weapon to impress their friends. And that's why I believe it has a good chance of success," said Lee.

Lee says the Chamber of Commerce and JSO will roll out the program with all the fine details within about a month.

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