The Papua New Guinea government has been urged to set up and pay police informants in order to find firearms and hand them in.
The Post Courier newspaper reports the recommendation came from the Western Highlands Provincial Health Minister, Robert Munn, at a recent meeting of the national guns control committee.
Mr Munn told the forum in Mount Hagen that guns would come out if informants were set up and paid to provide information to police.
He says they would work closely with police to ensure guns were returned to the state.
He suggests this would work better in the Highlands than just asking people to surrender their weapons.
Mr Munn says poor working conditions force many army and police officers to try to sell guns and ammunition to make ends meet.
