The mayor of Blue Island, Ill., has vowed to stop a local man's plans for a weekend gun buy-back event.

Tommy Brown, who said he plans to run for Mayor Don Peloquin's seat in the next election, said he will give $100 for every gun turned in at the Redemption Theater from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, the Chicago SouthtownStar reported Friday.

Brown said his event will be staffed by off-duty sheriff's deputies and corporations have donated $8,000 for the firearms buy-back program.

I'm tired of turning on the news and reading about black and Hispanic men and women being murdered, he said. Something needs to be done about this. Even if we collect one gun, that's one less weapon we have to worry about on the street.

However, Brown did not obtain permission from the city for his Turn Your Gun in Day event and Peloquin, who has been mayor for 24 years, pledged police will close the building down if Brown does not cancel his plan.

You need to have a law enforcement agency involved directly with the event, and Mr. Brown doesn't have that, Peloquin said. You need to justify where the guns go after they are collected and whether those guns were used in a crime.

Peloquin said the Cook County sheriff's department told him that it is not affiliated with the program.

If they were endorsing the program, that would be great, he said. But they're not.

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