BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine government has destroyed 70,000 guns collected from civilians as part of the National Voluntary Gun Handover Plan, local media reported Wednesday.

    Andres Meiszner, director of the National Arms Register with the justice ministry, said the plan offered up to 150 U.S. dollars per gun in reward and guaranteed the anonymity for those who handed over the guns, starting from July 10.

    He said that authorities had received on average 500 guns a day, half being just registered or in active use, together with a total of 50,000 rounds of ammunition

    The government plans to spend 10 million Argentine pesos (3.18 million U.S. dollars) on the plan in 2008.

    Like many Latin Americans, Argentines have traditionally used guns for hunting and property defending while guns can be bought without a license at gun shops.

    There are 1.2 million registered firearms in the country by official count with an estimated same amount of unregistered guns.

    Gun accidents have been a leading cause of death in Argentina, killing a total of 32,000 people since 1997.

    The disarmament plan was triggered by the Belgrano Shooter casein July 2006, when 27-year-old schizophrenic Martin Rios shot five strangers in the capital's suburb Belgrano, killing 18-year-old student Alfredo Marcenac.