Boston Gun Buyback Set After Boy's Shooting Death
BOSTON (CBS) — After a 14-year-old boy was accused of accidentally shooting and killing his 9-year-old brother, the city's mayor is taking aim at getting guns off the street.
On Sunday, Mayor Marty Walsh discussed his plans for a local gun buyback program along with the need for nation-wide gun reform.
"We've done gun buyback programs in the past that have been successful but we've got to try something a little different," Walsh said following a Chinese New Year parade in Boston. "National gun reform is important. Most of these guns are coming from out-of-state states that don't have tough gun laws. We're simply asking people to register their guns — that's it."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports
Walsh's proposal calls for the first gun buyback program in the city of Boston since 2006. Walsh's push comes days after a Mattapan teen shot his 9-year-old brother accidentally, with the younger boy dying later at a local hospital.
"We belong to a club where we don't want any new members but it seems like every day you hear about the same ending," said Ann Marie Crowell as she looked out the kitchen window of her Saugus home to the house where her son was shot to death.
Crowell's 12-year-old son, Brian, died in an accidental shooting on Christmas Eve in 1997. His best friend pulled the trigger. Brian would have turned 29 on Feb. 1.
"When they have these gun buyback programs, we did have one in Saugus in Brian's name, the guns do start coming to the police station," Crowell said. "If it's just one gun that gets turned in, it's one potential life saved."
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