Turn In A Gun, Get Tickets To GUNS N' ROSES Concert

December 1, 2006

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland city officials will reward anyone who turns in a gun this Saturday in Sobrante Park and next week in DeFremery Park with two tickets to the Dec. 15 concert by GUNS N' ROSES at Oracle Arena.

"GUNS N' ROSES — the band?" asked Mike Magardo, a 34-year-old Oakland resident. "I think that's a little off the mark. In general, the folks who would show up for a gun exchange in those neighborhoods either don't know or care who GUNS N' ROSES are."

"Why would any youngsters want to go see GUNS N' ROSES," Andrew Smith, 32, asked.

Mark Lipsett, a 45-year-old banker, said, "That seems crazy to me. How about Raiders tickets, Warriors tickets, a pizza coupon, just about anything," he said.

Etah Allah, 31, who grew up in West Oakland, summed it up nicely.

"I wouldn't give them a sling shot," he said. "In fact, given some of the things that (Axl) Rose has said about black folks, I think I should get a gun for just going to the concert," he said, bringing a laugh from his friends.

Joe DeVries, who runs Oakland's violence-prevention program with tax funds from voter-approved Measure Y, says the GUNS N' ROSES promotion is admittedly not a great match. But he hopes it's the start of a program that will expand to include acts that speak to younger black audiences.

"I recognize that GUNS N' ROSES isn't a band that a lot of Oakland kids listen to, but there are so many stolen guns used in crimes in this city we'll take any guns we can get," he said.

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).