Madison Goes After Illegal Guns With Bounty Program

Madison is trying a new tactic to reverse a recent increase in gun violence and track down perpetrators. The city will pay those who report people hiding stolen weapons or those using guns in crimes.

The city’s review of the effectiveness of similar gun bounty programs in Baltimore and Miami is still pending, but Mayor Paul Soglin is starting an unofficial program in Madison immediately. His office will pay up to $1,000 to anyone reporting illegal guns.

“We’ve been contemplating this for a couple of weeks now,” said Soglin at a press conference Tuesday. “And I just don’t want to wait.”

Those who report illegal guns will remain anonymous. Paul Skidmore, a west-side alderman who represents a district where a man was shot in a parking lot outside a pub this spring, said anonymity is important.

“So many times we’ll see an incident where there’s lots of eyewitnesses but there’s nobody willing to discuss it for fear of repercussions or fear of being implicated. We have to break that cycle and this could be a way of doing it,” Skidmore said.

The mayor also urged residents to speak out against gun violence.

“I’m convinced that working together we will get this done. But in this day and age we’ve come to learn that government can not do it alone,” Soglin said. “There are constitutional limits on our police department, which are righteous. There are restraints upon the rules we have as government for privacy, but it’s only the problem-solving, the voices of the people who live in the neighborhood which are the most critical element.”

Skidmore agreed.

“Security within the neighborhood is going to occur when the neighborhood buys in and gets involved,” said Skidmore. “What you see now is a lot of people who are afraid to speak up. But I live in a neighborhood where they’re not afraid to call police, call me. Bad things happen out there, but when people realize other people are watching and they’re going to get reported, crime has a tendency to go down. “

Madison officials will continue to review bounty programs in Baltimore and Miami before deciding whether to start an official bounty program. Skidmore is hopeful this strategy could help reduce a recent spate of shootings at cars, homes and people.

“At first I thought this was a gun buy back and I was skeptical, as many people are, of just a gun buy back of guns that no longer work or are antiques. But this could work,” Skidmore said.

The mayor said laws prevent the city from controlling “who carries a firearm, who buys a firearm, who sells a firearm.” But he said through the gun bounty program, “we can try and retrieve these firearms and ultimately have them lead us to the perpetrators.”