“I know how to make a pizza, they call me the pizza man,” said Donald Dancy, the restaurant owner of D & C Pizza in Indianapolis.

Now the “pizza man” is extending his expertise to helping the local community fight crime by exchanging a large pizza in return for guns.

Mr Dancy, who was robbed and shot himself, told WRTV: “You know, I said, ‘Maybe I could have helped them. Maybe I could have got that gun off the street.’

“Everyone of these crimes, mainly with these kids, I said, ‘If I could reach them with a pizza, I could save a life.’ I’ve got that in my heart– in my mind– that I could do it.”

He said he would not ask any questions of the gun-owner if they came into his shop, which has been open since 1980, and would simply call the police to collect the weapon.

“If you want a pizza, that’s fine - I’ll take the gun. We’re helping, let’s get it going on,” he said.

He added that the hoped the gesture would encourage other local businesses to step up their efforts to help the community.