The Bay Area city of Richmond, California pays would-be killers $12,000 a year not to murder people with guns.

The program is designed to reduce deaths by providing recent parolees and other susceptible persons with a financial incentive that encourages them to avoid killing other humans with guns.

According to the Washington Post, the city of Richmond hires “ex-convicts to mentor dozens of its most violent offenders and allows them to take unconventional steps if it means preventing the next homicide.” Some of these “unconventional steps” include overlooking certain crimes–including a few homicides–and trying to match violent offenders with “rival gang members” as a means of checking behavior.

The mentors also pay those they are mentoring up to $1,000 a month not to kill with guns.

Washington, D.C.’s city council has approved funding to launch a similar program in their city. And the cities of Toledo, Baltimore, and other Democrat-run cities are considering a similar step.

A Rasmussen Poll released on March 31 shows that 81 percent of Americans reject the idea of paying would-be killers not to murder with guns.

Rasmussen asked, “In an effort to reduce their homicide rates, several cities are considering a plan to pay criminals not to commit gun crimes. Do you favor or oppose a plan in your community to pay criminals up to $1,000 a month not to kill someone with a gun?” Over 4 out of 5 Americans answered “no.”

Only one American in twenty agreed with the program.

Photo: file

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.