Newark mayor offers $1,000 cash for firearms information

J

jimpeel

New member
Okay, I searched for "Newark" and got nothing so if this is a duplicate thread ...

The mayor of Newark, NJ has posted a video on TV telling everyone that they can earn $1,000 for calling a tip line for illegal firearms. The person is told to call the number and turn someone in. The officer on the other end will give them a four digit PIN. If the information results in the removal of a firearm from circulation, the person will receive another four digit PIN when they call back after thirty days. They then go to a designated bank with their PINs and they are given $1,000 cash. No ID, no questions asked.

Good idea? Bad idea?

You decide.

VIDEO LINK
 
More along the lines of Big Brother. Just call 1-800-usnitch.

I see this as a great way for people to anonymously create all kinds of problems for people they don't like. So what if the "tip" doesn't pan out and they don't get the other 4 numbers to collect $1,000. In the intervening 30 days, the person they reported will be subjected to serious police harassment.

Not a good idea at all.
 
OK... so I pick up a couple of $75.00 beater trade in's... hide them up in Newark... Tip off the cops... Ummm collect three grand... Come home and buy a sig, and a new smith revolver.

This could work...
 
More sinister: My sister is going through a bad divorce, I buy a $75.00 gun off the streets, plant it in her soon to be ex-husbands house or car and then call. Not only do I collect serious money but I also get the poor guy thrown in the slammer.

This system seems ripe for abuse, all a rock head has to do to stay high as a kite for days is steal a gun or buy a "street gun" then turn it in for a serious profit.


The ONLY plus side I see is that this COULD in theory inflate the price of "street" guns somewhat.
 
The gun-manufacturing execs must be slapping themselves on the back these days... Not only are new-gun sales stats way up... But now even more taxpayer-dollars will go towards buying information about used guns which will be confiscated (and eventually melted down, I suppose)... creating another facet of one beeeauuutiful profit-cycle!

In the video, the mayor is actually waving a fistful of cash...
 
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If the information results in the removal of a firearm from circulation, the person will receive another four digit PIN when they call back after thirty days.
Click to expand...

Notice it doesn't say removal of an illegal firearm from circulation.
 
Notice it doesn't say removal of an illegal firearm from circulation
Click to expand...
At the end he did say "Illegal Firearm", and he also stated that the cash would be awarded even if there was no arrest, as long as the gun was taken off the streets. Now we could A$$-ume that means just turning in/finding a gun stashed, or could it also mean that the gun was confiscated from a lawful owner and no crime was committed, but the gun was taken to never be returned??
This kind of gun hate culture is ripe for that.
 
sounds like a variation on the buy back programs. A lot of people got well at taxpayers expense. This will happen again.
 
If the NJ Police show up at your door asking to search your house for a reported 'illegal' gun and you say 'no', then what happens? They honestly do not have enough Probable Cause for a Search Warrant.
 
That is the kind of thing Hitler did. It is not right turning in your neighbors. They may not even be aware that they are breaking a law.
 
Or Bubba and his friends get together and buy a bunch of junk Mosins, broken shotguns, and assorted "parts guns". All legal. They turn each other in (maybe turn in someone's ex-wife first to make sure it works), forfeit the guns, and split the rewards. Profit!
 
How do they define an illegal gun? I guess in New Jersey their gun laws are different but in Oklahoma this would never work. I buy a new gun and then sell it to someone privately. No paperwork of any kind is required as a record of the sale.

So any used guns bought privately the new owner would have no proof of legal ownership. Only that they were not prohibited from legally owning the firearm by law.
 
A couple problems occur to me with this. First, having a firearm does not rise to the level of probable cause to issue a search warrant; if its me, no warrant, no search. Second, I thought the threshold for IRS reporting was $600. I think anything over that needs to be reported as income by the person paying (via 1099), correct? If so, the mayor is advocating tax fraud??
 
Someone buys a cheap throw away, plants it in someone's yard or shed or what-ever in a way that seems there is intent in hiding it, then makes a phone call. Cha-ching $1k?

I don't know the facts so I am more than likely jumping to conclusions but scary thought.
 
Great Idea

This sounds like grandstanding, an effort to do "feel-good" things to show they are tough on crime without actually being tough on crime. Can I report the local VFW hall for the civil war cannon on their lawn? Heck, if they'll pay a grand for a handgun, what's a cannon worth?
 
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