Beloit, Wisconsin, Police Chief Norm Jacobs said residents ought to let law enforcement search their homes for guns, and he’s billing his proposal as a way to keep children safe.

“Maybe we’ll find a toy gun that’s been altered by a youngster in the house — and we know the tragedies that can occur there on occasion,” he said, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

Mr. Jacobs said he doesn’t expect his proposal will lead to scores of invitations into residents’ homes, WPR.org reported. But he’s standing by his home inspection plan as a surefire means of decreasing gun-related violence.

“Gun violence is as serious as [how] the Ebola virus is being represented in the media, and we should fight it using the tools that we’ve learned from our health providers,” he said, adding that the real hope is to unearth guns in homes that nobody knew existed.

“That’s really what we’re looking for,” Mr. Jacobs said, WPR.org reported.

His proposal comes on the heels of seven gun-related homicides in Beloit in 2014. Four of the victims were below that age of 20.

Response to the police plan has been largely negative, with many seeing the idea as a gun grab, Western Journalism reported.

“I would like the jackbooted police in Beloit, Wisconsin, to volunteer to have themselves searched for clues,” tweeted Phil Elmore, Western Journalism reported. “I fear they have none. #gungrab.”

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