People could be given thousands of dollars to hand in guns as part of new National Security Minister Wayne Perinchief’s plan to tackle Bermuda’s gang problem.Mr Perinchief will also put gang legislation back on the Cabinet table this week, despite police dismissing similar proposals from former Premier Dr Ewart Brown two years ago.The former Assistant Commissioner is promising drastic action to get to grips with escalating gun violence which has seen three people murdered this year and seven in 2010.The Pembroke Central MP, promoted after David Burch’s surprise resignation last week, has already discussed a buy-back guns programme with police with a ballpark figure of $5,000 to $10,000 understood to have been mentioned.“Guns that are already on the Island and most likely are being used for criminal activities would be handed in anonymously for a payment,” Mr Perinchief told The Royal Gazette.The Minister says the move would yield better results than gun amnesties which have done little more than to encourage people to hand in relics.“In essence, you are paying substantially more than what these guns are rented at or sold at,” he said. “This is not a gun amnesty where people hand in relics and don’t hand in functioning guns.”Mr Perinchief believes removing guns from the streets would make a big dent in the gang culture, claiming they give gangsters a sense of power they don’t get with baseball bats or machetes.Asked how many guns are on the Island, he replied: “We honestly don’t know how many. Indications are, from police investigations, two guns have been identified as involved with several shooting incidents, which would indicate the numbers are not as many as some people would anticipate.”This week, he is speaking to CrimeStoppers about how it can help with the buy-back programme.Mr Perinchief’s other proposal, gang legislation, was raised by Dr Brown in the summer of 2009, shortly after the spate of shootings kicked off.Dr Brown said he was hoping to mirror Bikie Gang laws in Australia, which make being a gang member a criminal offence and allow police to disrupt the rhythm of gangs.At that time, Assistant Commissioner Paul Wright argued such legislation would be difficult to enforce, saying: “You don’t only have to prove that someone’s committed an offence, but done it as a member of a broader group.”Mr Perinchief said officers had wanted to concentrate on behaviour-based policing, but now Bermuda needs to try something new.“Gang membership isn’t covered that well in the law,” he said. “As a result of that, we have looked at legislation from New Zealand and Australia and other Commonwealth countries to identify some legislation that can tackle this phenomenon of anti-social organisations, so we can deal with it in a more proactive way, and in addition, start to encourage people to disengage from gang activity.“Right now, there’s no consequence for being a member of a gang. Half the members are there because of the glamour and glitz.”Explaining how the legislation will work, he said: “Step one is to clearly identify who the organised gangs are and that their activities have been proven to be illegal and or anti-social. Then identify individuals who are reported members of these gangs.“The police already have gone to the Supreme Court and have given evidence that some individuals by association are gang members. The court has accepted that evidence. In accepting that level of evidence, half the battle has been won.“You have identified the gangs as being anti-social, engaged in illegal activity. There’s a core group of individuals participating in those gangs.“Now we are going to ringfence the gangs and their members and bring the required legislation. I’m just now bringing a paper to Cabinet to discuss the whole issue, so in a way I am anticipating this process.“The previous Premier actually brought a paper to Parliament in 2009. He held it, pending further discussion with the police who, at that time, had experienced a desire to operate within different parameters.“They were not that enthusiastic to bring legislation that would simply be described as anti-gang legislation.“They believed there were some human rights issues. They thought that by using existing legislation, public order acts, that they could actually deal with the conduct and behaviour of the gangs, and that way abate their behaviour.“However, I have said to the Commissioner, two years later, and 15 murders later, we are at the position now where we have got to try something else, something that’s more proactive so we can head off this activity.”Useful websites:www.gov.bm, www.bps.bm