Local Supermarket Owner Offers Gift Cards For Gun Turn-In Program
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The owner of 10 Philadelphia area supermarkets is bankrolling the latest campaign to take guns off the city's streets.
Jeffrey Brown, president and CEO of Brown's Super Shop Rite Stores, based in Westville, NJ, says he is putting up $100 Shop Rite gift cards for each gun turned in -- no questions asked -- at an event set for Saturday, 10am to 2pm, at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, at 21st and Lehigh in North Philadelphia.
Brown says it's easy for businesses to stay on the sidelines, but he's not one of them.
"Guns affect my customers, my employees on a daily basis," he said today. "There's a fear of being hurt. And if we can do something to make that a little better, we would like to not be on the sidelines."
Brown says the Philadelphia police department will be at the church to collect the guns for eventual destruction.
"We're setting an example of how business can team up with elected officials and government to make things better," Brown tells KYW Newsradio.
Those who make the trade won't have to go far to redeem the cards. Brown's eleventh store opens in August on Fox Street, about a mile from the church.
