Handing in Guns to See the Guns

Chip Johnson in the Chron is reporting on a promotion in Oakland to get people to hand in hand guns. The promotion this time around is basically if you hand in your gun, you'll get tickets to an upcoming concert. The upcoming concert this time around is Guns n' Roses at the Oracle on December 15th.

Now you can already see the problems with this, can't you? First up, GnR ain't really big in the hood. The second thing is that they're not that big with anyone anymore. Oh, and the other big thing is that Guns doesn't really have a great reputation with African Americans due to the infamous song "One in a Million." Not said but should have been said is that all of this is a band now lead by an eccentric overweight lead singer with hair extensions playing with a glorified band of hired guns to play music that's now about twenty (twenty!) years old. Or the irony in giving tickets to a band that has the name "guns" in it.

To prove his point, Johnson walked around the neighborhood where the promotion is being offered and asked if anyone was into the show and would hand in their guns. Pretty much nobody did. And pretty much everyone said it was a dumb idea.

The guy in charge, however, admits it's not a great match but essentially says it's better than not having the gun exchange. Which is a pretty good point. He also says he's looking for more corporate sponsors and that it's what he's stuck with.