Police collect weapons in gun buy back

Mayor Richard Daley called on Chicagoans to turn their guns in to a police buyback program Saturday, saying guns in homes only lead to more violence.

"It's like having gasoline sitting in your home, sitting there, and you're lighting a wick every night and you're wondering whether or not it's going to go off, and it goes off like that in your hand," Daley said.

The city's gun buyback initiative is in its fourth year. Residents who hand a weapon to police receive a $100 prepaid MasterCard. Last year, police collected 6,700 weapons -- more than twice the total for the previous two years combined.

Mayor Daley has been a vocal opponent of gun ownership.

"America should not be known for the number of guns we have in our homes," he said. Instead, the mayor said, the country should be instead known for how well it takes care of its children and elderly citizens.

The National Rifle Association has filed suit against Chicago, challenging the city's anti-handgun laws. The lawsuit came after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a similar law in Washington D.C.

Chicago suburban leaders in Wilmette and Morton Grove have decided to repeal handgun bans.

Daley has vowed to fight the lawsuit and has said increased gun ownership would make policing more difficult. On Friday, he said if Chicago's gun ban were overturned the city would have to protect emergency workers.

"You have to look at a new ordinance in order to protect firemen and policemen going to the scenes of people that arm themselves in their home," he said.