Five hundred nightclubs and cafés in the Netherlands will be fitted with vaults where visitors can drop off their illegal weapons and drugs anonymously. Police will keep the keys to the vaults and will regularly open them to confiscate the contents.
The vaults are a project of Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballinn who will officially install the first such receptacle in a bar in the town of Loosdrecht on Friday. Mr Hirsch Ballin has said the system is intended to help counter the carrying of small arms and knives by people who are going out.
The system was tested in Amsterdam, Heerlen and Maastricht.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Amsterdam nightlife
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I don't know the ins and outs of this program, but similar amnesties elsewhere have collected a surprising number of weapons (see links below).
In tougher, more troubled areas, this is often in exchange for something, but it's not always that way.
Some people are in possession of guns they would rather not have, and others know a family member is hiding one in the house. This is the only way they can dispose of them safely.
Of course, tough criminal types aren't going to be first in the queue, but it's also a good way for them to hand in weapons anonymously that have been used in crimes.
These schemes can collect a huge number of arms, but it's true that it's only the tip of the iceberg.
Still worth doing? Absolutely.
See:
Bristol gun amnesty:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/8456863.stm
Prague gun amnesty:
http://www.praguepost.com/news/1948-gun-amnesty-a-success.html
The Bronx buy back scheme:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/01/27/2010-01-27_gun_buyb...
Argentina Guns for cash:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45034
Toronto: guns for digital cameras
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/12/16/pixe...
No, thanks but I will keep my weapons. There are not police to protect one's self and family: therfore, I prefer to do what the police will do. Criminals are dangerous and so are governments ran by criminals. Those governments ran by criminals do not trust it's citizens and take they away all weapons in order not to be challeged by their tyranny. No thanks, I would rather tell a judge and jury why I had to defend myself, than be murdered by a criminal who does not care about one's life other than his own. { I like the British people but the British government is another thing. They have abused their own people from owning guns or even hunting a fox with a gun but they allow the manufacturing of weapons of war in their own Kingdom in order to make a profit. Don't innocent people die from those weapons? Who are they going to turn them into for a camera? I bet you they keep them in order to protect themselves from the criminals.
"Dutch nightclubs to collect illegal arms"......How will the nightclubs collect the "illegal arms" from those who are entering the clubs and cafés? Will it be left to the carriers of the "illegal" arms to turn in their arms or will all citizens be required to submit to a pat or strip search of their bodies? Do you really believe that someone who carries an illegal weapon will turn in their arms like an honest citizen would do? Are the citizens of the Nethrlands going to give away another personal freedom and allow the owners of the clubs and cafés to search their bodies like the police do with criminals? Why not allow all businesses to search the shoppers who enter their businesses? Criminals are not honest citizens and therefore do not turn in their weapons into the owners of any business. They carry the weapons in order to hurt someone or for protection. Those who do carry arms and are not criminals carry weapons in order to protect themselves from those criminals who have no qualms about hurting someone? { The Dutch government was proud about about their prison cells being empty. Could that be a reason why so many people are carrying "illegal" arms around with them. There are so many dangerous criminals running around on the streets that honest people have to carry an illegal arms in order to protect them selves?