Academic Study: Gun Turn-Ins (“Buybacks”) Increase Crime committed with Guns

Academic Study: Gun Turn-Ins (“Buybacks”) Increase Crime committed with Guns

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- A study published in May of 2021 has rigorously shown such events do not reduce crime or suicides. Instead, the number of crimes committed with guns increases in the two months after the turn-in events (“buybacks”) are conducted.

The study was published by the National Bureau of Economics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the title:

HAVE U.S. GUN BUYBACK PROGRAMS MISFIRED?

The study authors are:  Toshio Ferrazares, Joseph J. Sabia, and D.Mark Anderson

The term “buyback” is an Orwellian propaganda term. You cannot buy back what you never owned. I corresponded with one of the authors of the study, D. Mark Anderson. He confirmed my interpretation of the term but will keep it in the study. From a private email, with permission:

I also agree with your issue on the term “buyback,” but this is one we will probably leave unchanged.  The reason being is that the economics literature has used this term exclusively.  So, when researchers are interested in the topic, they are undoubtedly typing “buyback” into their search engine and we want our piece to show up in their searches.

The study of the gun turn-in events (labeled as buybacks) is the largest of its kind, both geographically, and over time.  The study used the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for a uniform and detailed database of crime information. The NIBRS is used by a bit more than one-third of police agencies in the United States, which limited some aspects of the study to those jurisdictions.

The study included gun turn-in events from 1991 through 2015, for a total of 25 years, and 339 events occurring in 277 cities.  41 of the cities had populations over 50,000 and were in jurisdictions using NIBRS.  The study also compared deaths from suicide and homicide captured in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) for all the cities studied.

The study is the most ambitious of its kind ever undertaken.  Large studies are more credible than small studies. It is better to include data than to exclude it.

Here is the abstract of the study:

Gun buyback programs (GBPs), which use public funds to purchase civilians’ privately-owned firearms, aim to reduce gun violence. However, little is known about their effects on firearm-related crime or deaths. Using data from the National Incident Based Reporting System, we find no evidence that GBPs reduce gun crime. Given our estimated null findings, with 95 percent confidence, we can rule out decreases in firearm-related crime of greater than 1.3 percent during the year following a buyback. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System, we also find no evidence that GBPs reduce suicides or homicides where a firearm was involved.

Not mentioned in the abstract, the study found significant evidence of gun turn in events (“buybacks”) being associated with increases in crime committed with guns in the two months after the event.

From Page 14

Moreover, during the first two months following the gun buyback, we find that a GBP is associated with an increase in incidents of firearm-related crime. The 7.7 percent increase in gun crime we detect in column (4) is relatively modest, suggesting at most, two additional gun crimes.24

From Page 15

Difference-in-difference-in-differences estimates of the effect of GBPs on gun versus non-gun crime, shown in Table 4, control for jurisdiction-specific time-varying unobservables that may commonly affect gun and non-gun crime, such as increased investments in law enforcement community policing. Across the three specifications presented in Table 4, we show that GBPs are associated with a 6.9 percent increase in gun as compared to non-gun crime in the two months following a gun buyback. We find no change in gun versus non-gun crime thereafter. An event-study analysis, shown in Figure 4, confirms that this effect is not contaminated by differential pre-treatment crime trends.

From page 17

In Table 7, explore whether city GBPs had differential effects on violent (Panel I) as compared to non-violent (Panel II) gun crime. We find no evidence that GBPs significantly reduced violent or non-violent crime in either the short-run or longer-run. Rather, we find holding a GBP is associated with short-run increases in firearm-involved robberies (Panel I, column 2), weapons law violations (Panel II, column 2), drug violations (Panel II, column 3), vandalism (Panel II, column 4), and kidnapping (Panel II, column 5).28

We next examine whether the effects of GBPs on gun crime differ by age, gender, or race of the offender. The findings in Table 8 provide no support for the hypothesis that GBPs reduced gun crime for any demographic group. Instead, we find short-run increases in gun crime for those ages 18 to 23 (column 3), individuals over age 35 (column 5), males (column 6), females (column 7), and African Americans (column 9).

The evidence of an increase in crime involving guns is robust. The results are mentioned again in the conclusion of the study:

Moreover, we find some evidence of a small, short-run increase in gun crime in the two months following a GBP. This result is consistent with the notion that GBPs primarily target low-risk firearms that are more likely to deter crime than be used in the commission of a crime (Kuhn et al. 2002) and with the hypothesis that some criminals may be emboldened by their perception that victims will be less likely to defend themselves with deadly physical force (Lott 1998).

These findings are consistent with an earlier large study, published in 2008, which looked at the effects of highly regulated gun shows in California vs. lightly regulated gun shows in Texas. That study found murder rates decreased in the areas of Texas following lightly regulated gun shows. Direct link to the 2008 paper. The two findings are complementary.

Fewer guns (“buybacks”) = more crime with guns, including homicide and kidnapping.

More guns (lightly regulated gun shows) = fewer homicides.

Other than the terminology of “buybacks”, there were a couple of errors which this correspondent discussed with D. Mark Anderson. Dr. Anderson wrote he and his colleagues will be considering ways to fix the two errata. The mistakes were these:

First, a misinterpretation of the term “registered guns” in Indiana cities on page 19. The vast majority of guns in Indiana and America are unregistered and untraceable. The number of guns in Indiana is erroneously implied to be about 17 per 1,000 people. A reasonable number would be 1,200 per 1,000 people.

Second, on page 49, in Table 7, the authors include kidnapping/abduction with the “non-violent” gun crimes.  Kidnapping is not a non-violent crime.  Moving kidnapping to the violent crime section will not change the overall statistics in the table.

The study is large and ambitious. It reinforces the current findings that more or fewer guns have little effect on crime or suicides generally.  It is consistent with the research of Dr. John Lott, which associates less restrictive gun laws with a small reduction of violent crime.

It finds what economists have previously predicted. Promoting the turning in of guns to the police (“buybacks”) by paying for them has no positive effect on reducing suicide or homicide.  Instead, police and other public resources are wasted without positive effect.

In this correspondent’s opinion, one reason promoting gun turn in events might increase crime is by reducing the sense of self, rational decisions, and personal agency. The theory of “buybacks” is access to objects is what determine crime events, not personal decisions. The theory undermines the concept of personal responsibility.

If authority figures repeatedly tell you having a gun makes you commit crimes, you have a ready-made excuse to do so.

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About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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Information Held Back on Miami ‘Mass Shootings’ as Acevedo Pounces

March for Our Lives photos:
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner join protesters at #MarchForOurLives https://t.co/kSqokmScR0 pic.twitter.com/ZwflmOnXYj

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) March 24, 2018

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Two people were killed and more than 20 people were injured in what police called a ‘targeted and cowardly act’ early Sunday morning outside a Northwest Miami-Dade banquet hall,” WTVJ 6, NBC’s South Florida affiliate reports. “This marks the second mass shooting in South Florida on Memorial Day weekend.”

As with the earlier incident, the suspects are at large, and the public’s help in identifying them is being solicited.

“Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers,” the report notes. “Crime Stoppers just announced a reward of $30,000 in partnership with the U.S Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators. This is aside from the $100,000 reward offered by Marcus Lemonis, host of CNBC’s ‘The Profit,’ on Sunday.”

With the public still in danger from such ruthless and now desperate predators being on the loose, one would think descriptions of the suspects would be in order. There were plenty of survivors at both incidents who no doubt have provided authorities with details, and sharing those could only help increase the chances that someone might make a sighting worth investigating.

Instead, and no surprise here, Miami’s gun prohibitionist police chief is blaming “gun laws” and calling for more of them.

Per Fox News, Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo called on members of Congress “to come out of their own corners the left and the right and come to the middle where most Americans are.”

“We need to have universal background checks, we need to make burglarizing these licensed gun stores a federal crime with mandatory sentencing, and we need the federal government and both sides to address this issue because without legislation,” Acevedo said. “Without certainty as it relates to holding these criminals accountable, we’re never going to get through this summer with much more death and destruction.”

“Background checks”? No doubt the Miami “mass shooters” filled out 4473s and an FFL ran their transfers through NICS. And news flash for Acevedo: ATF requires licensed dealers to report stolen firearms, the Department of Justice prosecutes such crimes as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, and the federal courts impose sentences on the guilty.

Being president of the Major Chiefs Association and past Chair of its Homeland Security Committee that acknowledges support from Project Safe Neighborhoods (see pg. 16), you’d think he’d know that. Of course, you’d also think a refugee from Castro’s Cuba would understand the evil of violence monopolies and not try to wrest away freedoms from the people who took him and his family in.

Professional citizen disarmament lobbyists, while mentioning Miami and blaming guns, are being surprisingly non-hysterical about this so far on social media. I’ll go out on a limb here, even though suspects in both Miami “mass shooting” incidents have not been identified: They will not fit the prevailing narrative. If nothing else, those who demand to disarm their countrymen know when to exploit a meme and when their talking points to conflate and smear Constitutionalists as racists can be easily refuted.

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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Eliminating Gun Enhancements Not a Bad Idea, Hiding Criminal Records Is

AmmoLand readers might be surprised to learn I agree about ending gun enhancements, just not for the same reasons. And I don’t think these folks are going to like my alternatives. (Initiate Justice/Facebook)

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Reform-minded activists in California vow to move forward after a bill that would have dramatically reduced, and in some cases eliminated, enhanced sentences for crimes committed while using a gun failed to advance through the legislature,” Fox News reports. “The state lawmakers who backed the Anti-Racism Sentencing Reform Act claim the existing law, which allows prosecutors to seek additional time behind bars, is racist — 89% of the roughly 40,000 inmates serving gun enhancement sentences in California are people of color, according to figures from Restore Justice.”

One could argue that 89% reflects personal behaviors that have nothing to do with “systemic racism,” and that excuse is being used by “progressive” gaslighters to deflect responsibility and shift blame. Combine that with using the same excuse to evade accountability for the violent crimes themselves, and it’s obvious they’re looking for a race-based hard pass on punishments of any kind.

That said, before kneejerk dismissing eliminating enhanced sentences for guns, those who advocate for the right to keep and bear arms might want to think it through. Is the idea really that insane?

It’s been my longstanding contention anyone who can’t be trusted with a gun can’t be trusted without a custodian. That could range from maximum security solitary for the most dangerous offenders to a secured care facility for the ones whose behavioral improvements warrant observed and tested movement toward reintegration into society. As the late Robert Kukla observed in his classic book Gun Control, you wouldn’t sentence a man-eating tiger to x years and then just open the cage when its time was “served.” Unless you were a maniac.

But that’s the state of our current “justice” system. Who thinks if you let predators out, they won’t be able to get a gun when they want one or kill people using something else? Aside from useful idiots who believe the propaganda from the violence monopolists?

In terms of gun enhancement penalties, that’s why the Project Exile Condemnation Coalition was formed 20 years ago to oppose the NRA-backed federal program. Our position was:

The signers of this statement support any reasonable law-enforcement program that removes violent repeat-offender felons from our cities and neighborhoods, but only if the laws utilized to convict and to punish such felons are constitutional.

We condemn any program that involves enforcing unconstitutional ‘laws’, even if such ‘laws’ are enforced only against violent criminals. Unconstitutional ‘laws’ are illegal, harmful to public safety, tyrannical, and are inevitably enforced against ordinary, non-criminal citizens.

The ‘Project Exile’ supported by the current NRA management calls for enforcing all existing gun laws, regardless of their unconstitutionality and regardless of their being enforceable against non-criminals. Furthermore, the current NRA management’s quoted remarks … indicate a disregard for our public safety, our heritage, our freedom, and our Constitution.

Think about it: If they ban semiautos and you do not comply, guess who gets caught up in the net. Ditto if you defy a magazine ban or a due process-denying “red flag” prohibition, or any of the innumerable prior restraints and citizen disarmament diktats designed to separate you from your rights.

It was because of this that I came out so strongly against Rep. Amen Brown’s proposal to add to the enhancements (I wish these Democrats would make up their minds), and was candidly surprised to be contacted by some gun advocates telling me I was wrong. His bill would be specifically worded to include only “the baddest of the bad,” who had been caught in violation of gun possession prohibitions multiple times, they argued.

I’ve been holding off on revisiting that because I haven’t seen the text of Brown’s proposed bill yet, but I’ll tell you right now that doesn’t matter to me. It does not change the reasons the Coalition gave for opposing Project Exile. Supporting it gives gun owner sanction to the contention that “gun control” works, and who hasn’t seen the Democrats pass a bill and then come back and say they need still more? Give it time and some outraged harridan in  Moms Demand shirt will be screaming about a “boyfriend loophole” or some hustler will be demanding to close the “hater loophole.”

“Gun advocates” endorsing such “laws” falsely legitimize them in the public’s mind. Plus, you give in on one front and that’s one less obstacle the grabbers will need to overcome on their long march to their end game—having it all. Because yes, despite the ubiquitous denials, they are doing more than talking about taking our guns.

The hell with that.

OK, but possession is one thing. What if the bad guy uses a gun in a crime?

Remember what Archie Bunker said (proving sometimes “liberals” make a good point when they don’t mean to)? If you murder someone, or assault someone, or rob someone, or threaten someone, the circumstances will dictate the severity and you need to go away until you are penitent (as in “penitentiaries”), you make restitution, and you prove through actions that can be evaluated and adjudicated that you are no longer a danger.

If you can’t do that, sorry. Not.

Meanwhile, those seeking to let criminals escape accountability for their choices aren’t done. Now they want to pull another Cultural Marxist scam and erase history.

“The Clean Slate Act, which is sponsored by state senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn, would remove publicly available criminal records for most felonies and misdemeanor crimes after people have completed the terms of their punishments,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

What could go wrong?

And no surprise here: Myrie wants someone else to pay the tab for crimes with “S.1048-A, legislation aimed at the gun industry’s immunity from civil lawsuits stemming from the dangers posed by its products.”

Have you noticed how citizen disarmament fanatics always hold the wrong people accountable?

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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Texas Legislature Gives Final Approval to 2 More Strong Pro-2A Measures

On Friday afternoon, the Texas Senate concurred with House amendments and gave final approval to two pro-Second Amendment bills strongly supported by NRA-ILA and prioritized by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick IMG NRA-ILA

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- On Friday afternoon, the Texas Senate concurred with House amendments and gave final approval to two pro-Second Amendment bills strongly supported by NRA-ILA and prioritized by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick:

Senate Bill 19, by Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), discourages banks, payment processors, insurers, and other financial services providers from discriminating against members of the firearm and ammunition industries.  The legislation prohibits businesses that engage in this practice from contracting with governmental entities in the Lone Star State.  Taxpayer dollars should not be used to benefit the bottom-line of corporations that are actively working to erode the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Texans.

Senate Bill 20, by Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), protects the ability of hotel guests to store lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition in their rooms and to transport them directly en route between their vehicles and their rooms.  Hotels frequently fail to include information on their websites, or in reservation notices, to inform guests about restrictive firearms policies. This forces gun owners, upon arrival, to consider leaving their firearms in their cars or trucks and make them susceptible to theft, in order to comply with policies they knew nothing of in advance.

Thank you to the Senate sponsors of these measures and to the House authors of SB 19, Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake), and SB 20, Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mount Pleasant), for their hard work to pass these important bills, and to Lt. Governor Patrick for prioritizing this key legislation!

The Legislature will adjourn sine die on Monday, May 31.  We will send out a full report on pro-Second Amendment legislation passed and anti-gun bills defeated during the 87th Regular Session next week.  Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

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About NRA-ILA:

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org

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What Would Microstamping Ammo Do To Stop Violent Gun Crime? …Nothing!

Ammunition Micro Stamping img NRA-ILA

New York – -(AmmoLand.com)- In the immortal words of New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Anti-Second Amendment forces are at it once more, attempting to get the jump on enforcing the “Microstamping” of all semiautomatic handguns.

It is a curious thing that, with rising violent crime in Democrat-controlled jurisdictions, Democrats continue to blame society’s violence on firearms. They blame rising violent crime on the police. They blame it on “systemic racism.” They blame it on “white supremacists.” They blame it on Trump. They blame it on Republicans. They “Blame It On The Bossa Nova.”

The Democrats in Congress and in the States, along with the teeming mass of Progressives and Marxists throughout the Country and the seditious Press, continue to blame society’s ills on anyone and anything but where the fault truly rests;

On themselves and on their own miserable, flawed, bankrupt political, social, and economic philosophy, grounded on the tenets of Collectivism.

In an article posted recently on AmmoLand News, the NRA-ILA pointed to the Democrat Party-controlled State Legislature in Albany that will soon vote on three Anti-Second Amendment bills that recently passed out of Senate Committee. One of these three bills, the Microstamping of semiautomatic handguns, is nothing new. California was the first out of the gate with this when then California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed it into law in 2007.

An odd thing about that 2007 California law, apart from the fact that it would do nothing to reduce gun crime, is that it could never be enforced because the microstamping technology has patent law protection.

In June 2014, in a comprehensive article titled, “Microstamping: What Is It? Does It Work? Why Have It?”, detailing the many problems associated with the technology, the Arbalest Quarrel wrote, in pertinent part:

“At the time of the publication of [Dorothy] Kenney’s law journal article, [Firearm Microstamp Technology: Failing Daubert and Federal Rules of Evidence 702, 38, Rutgers Computer & Tech. L.J. (2012)], California’s microstamp technology law was in effect and had been in effect, thanks – or no thanks – to then Governor Schwarzenegger’s having signed it into law in 2007. And, Kenney said, that, ‘while the Microstamp technology law is currently in effect in California, it is owned solely by a company called Identification Dynamics, LLC, which recently acquired the U.S. patent. However, the California legislature required the Attorney General to certify that the technology was available to more than one [gun] manufacturer unencumbered by any patent restrictions before it could take effect. In essence, the requirement does not activate until Microstamping is outside of patent protection but the manufacturing company has a patent on it that runs until approximately 2023. Thus far, this certification requirement has not been satisfied so the legislation is practically nonfunctioning.’ Be that as it may, on May 17, 2013, Rochelle C. East, the Chief Deputy Attorney General did certify, under California Penal Code Section 31910, Subdivision (b)(7)(A), that very technology. The Chief Deputy Attorney General, Rochelle, said in important part: ‘The California Department of Justice has conducted a review of the known available patent restrictions applicable to the microscopic-imprinting technology described in §31910, Subdivision (b)(7)(A). Based on this review, the department certifies that, as of May 17, 2013, this technology is available to more than one manufacturer unencumbered by patent restrictions.’”

In that same AQ article, we also pointed out that;

“Apparently, New York is relying on the certification report that the Chief Deputy Attorney General of California published, as New York drafts its own legislation, mandating adoption of microstamping technology in its own State.”

An excerpt of the AQ article appeared on Ammoland Shooting Sports News on June 30, 2014; and, on September 27, 2014, Arbalest Quarrel’s President, Stephen L. D’Andrilli, delivered an address on microstamping of firearms at the 29th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Chicago, Illinois. AQ posted, the day before, a summary of Stephen’s address to the Gun Rights Policy Conference.

Very recently, on May 23, 2021, California Assembly Majority Whip, Jesse Gabriel, published a Press Release, stating, inter alia,

“In collaboration with Team ENOUGH and the Brady Campaign, Assembly member Jesse Gabriel (D – Woodland Hills) announced new legislation today that would make California the first state in the nation to require firearms used by law enforcement to include microstamping technology.

The measure, Assembly Bill (AB) 876, would build on the landmark Unsafe Handgun Act (UHA) [Cal Pen Code §31910 et.seq.] and mark a major step forward in the effort to require firearms manufacturers to incorporate microstamping technology, which has long been a top priority for gun violence prevention advocates. Importantly, microstamping technology imprints unique markings—known as micro stamps—onto individual firearms as well as discharged bullet casings, thereby allowing law enforcement to connect fired casings to a particular firearm.”

Is it just coincidence that New York is now following suit with its own Microstamping Bill, to be voted on in the coming days: 2021 Bill Text NY S.B. 4116 [AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to requiring semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to any licensed dealer in this state to be capable of microstamping ammunition]?”

Even so, this isn’t the first time that New York has attempted to enact a microstamping gun law because, in 2007, the New York State Assembly introduced its Bill 2007 NY A.B. 9819. Did New York take its cue from California, back in 2007? Probably. Did the two States work together on this? Are they still working together to pass Anti-Second Amendment legislation, in tandem? To what extent are other Anti-Second Amendment jurisdictions also coordinating their efforts to destroy the Second Amendment? One can only wonder just how closely these jurisdictions are working together.

The 2007 Bill did pass the Assembly but failed in the New York State Senate. New York Anti-Second Amendment proponents had since tried, numerous times, but without success to add a microstamping requirement to the sale of all semiautomatic handguns. But, with the legislature now firmly in Democrat Party hands, 2021 Bill Text NY S.B. 4116 has better than an even chance of passage, notwithstanding the improbability of any New York State Republican Senator voting for it.

Important note: the microstamping requirement, as set forth in the Bill, were it to become New York law, does not take effect until January 1, 2023, which happens to coincide, as discussed supra, with the date that Identification Dynamics, LLC’s microstamping patent expires. And, the language of 2021 Bill Text NY S.B. 4116 makes that fact clear. Hence, any jurisdiction that has previously enacted a semiautomatic handgun microstamping law, such as California, cannot enforce the law until the expiration of the patent on January 1, 2023. But, Anti-Second Amendment jurisdictions obviously want to get a jump on that. Still, they can’t be happy with the wait.

We can already hear the grumbling in these Anti-Second Amendment jurisdictions as they are compelled to wait several more months before they can begin to enforce this draconian and ludicrous law.

ACTION NOTICE ALERT: If you live in New York, do not stand idly, doing anything. Contact your State Senator NOW and tell your New York State Senator that you oppose the enactment of this bill.

Required microstamping of semiautomatic handguns should not occur now, nor on January 1, 2023, with the expiration of Identification Dynamics, LLC’s patent, nor at any time in the future, so long as this Nation continues to exist as a free Constitutional Republic.

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About The Arbalest Quarrel:

Arbalest Group created `The Arbalest Quarrel’ website for a special purpose. That purpose is to educate the American public about recent Federal and State firearms control legislation. No other website, to our knowledge, provides as deep an analysis or as thorough an analysis. Arbalest Group offers this information free.

For more information, visit: www.arbalestquarrel.com.

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Gun Group Files Federal Challenge To Ill. Carry Ban For Young Adults

SAF Files Federal Challenge To Ill. Carry Ban For Young Adults

BELLEVUE, WA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Illinois, challenging the state’s ban on concealed carry by young adults between the ages of 18 and 21, alleging the ban violates the Second and 14th Amendment rights of those citizens.

Joining SAF are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and three private citizens in the 18-21-year age group, David Meyer, Eva Davis, and Mitchell Nalley. They are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of David G. Sigale, P.C. in Wheaton, Ill., Christian D. Ambler of Stone & Johnson in Chicago, and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, and William V. Bergstrom, all with Cooper & Kirk PLLC in Washington, D.C. The case is known as Meyer v. Raoul.

Named as defendants are Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, State’s Attorney of Fayette County Joshua C. Morrison, State’s Attorney of St. Clair County James Gomric, State’s Attorney for Kendall County Eric Weis, Fayette County Sheriff Christopher Palmer, St. Clair County Sheriff Richard Watson and Kendall County Sheriff Dwight A. Baird, in their official and individual capacities.

“All law-abiding citizens of this country are considered adults at the age of 18 for nearly all purposes,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.

“They can vote, enter into contracts, start businesses, get married and join the military. But the state prohibits them from exercising the fundamental right to bear arms, that is, to carry a handgun outside the home or in an automobile, even though the state allows other adults to obtain a license to carry firearms in public.

“This is not our first legal encounter in Illinois,” he noted. “First we had the landmark McDonald v. City of Chicago Supreme Court victory that nullified Chicago’s handgun ban and incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. That opened the doors for other cases around the country. We successfully litigated Ezell v. City of Chicago when the city tried to get creative with its handgun law. We won again with Moore v. Madigan, forcing the Illinois Legislature to adopt a concealed carry statute, which we’re very proud of. And we’ve had other successful legal battles, so Illinois is familiar ground to us.

The lawsuit notes, “Moreover, young adults between eighteen and twenty-one were fully protected by the Second Amendment at the time of its ratification. Hundreds of statutes from the colonial and founding eras required 18-to-20-year-olds to keep and bear arms.”

“We’re asking the court to remedy this situation by issuing an injunction against further enforcement of the ban on our individual plaintiffs and other young adults facing the same situation,” Gottlieb said. “Citizens in this age group enjoy nearly all of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution except when it comes to the Second Amendment. This cannot be allowed to stand.”

Meyer v. Raoul Federal Challenge To Ill. Carry Ban For Young Adults

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The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing, and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 700,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

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Second Amendment Wins of the Week : 5/23/2021 -5/28/2021 ~ VIDEO

Check out our Daily Gun Deals page for more savings! Need more 9mm Ammo? Then BookMark this page! Own A Gun? Make Sure you are Covered. Legal Defense for Self-Defense.

Second Amendment Wins of the Week

USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- With so much happening for patriots these days. AmmoLand News wants to leave you with some highlights or wins on the battleground for 2A rights, and a few other patriot efforts,,, with our Friday round-up of Second Amendment Wins-of-the-Week.

Please share this page or these wins on your social media and help red pill your friends and family.

Oregon City Approves Pro-Gun Resolution:

“The Baker City Council approved a resolution Tuesday, May 25 that declares the city a Second Amendment sanctuary and states that the council opposes “any legislation that would infringe upon the rights of the People to keep and bear arms.””

Texas “Constitutional Carry” bill heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s Desk:

“A measure long sought by conservative activists allowing Texans to carry handguns without a license is on the cusp of becoming law after the Texas Senate approved a compromise on the bill Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott.”

MT State Supreme Court Declines To Take Up ‘Constitutional Carry’ Challenge:

“Parties in two separate lawsuits challenging the Legislature’s “constitutional carry” law on college campuses will be refiling their complaints in district court, following the Montana Supreme Court’s dismissal of both petitions on Wednesday.”

PA: Wyoming County Commissioners Vote 2-1 To Declare County Second Amendment Sanctuary:

“The Wyoming County Commissioners have voted in favor of declaring the county a Second Amendment Sanctuary. It’s a proclamation that shows the county’s support for second amendment rights.”

Lee’s Signature Makes Tennessee A Second Amendment Sanctuary:

“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill Wednesday that makes the state a Second Amendment sanctuary.”

Gaetz: Second Amendment About Waging ‘Armed Rebellion’ If Necessary:

“Rep. Matt Gaetz told an audience in Georgia on Thursday that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to “maintain an armed rebellion against the government if that becomes necessary.”

Armed Teacher Thwarts Kidnapping At Utah Elementary School:

“Ira Cox-Berry, 41, approached and grabbed a student, an 11-year-old girl, who was playing on the playground, police said. Cox-Berry allegedly pulled the girl away as if he was trying to leave with her, but a school employee approached…”

Texas Senate Has Passed HB 957 Exempting Texas-Made Suppressors From NFA Regulation:

“The bill would repeal the state law criminalizing suppressor manufacture or possession outside of regulation under the National Firearms Act.”

Glock Wins (And Biden Loses) In Major Liability Suit:

“In a little-noticed decision with a major impact on the firearms industry, a federal judge in Arizona has ruled in favor of pistol manufacturer Glock and dismissed a suit brought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence…”

These are just a few of the best wins of the week. Did we miss some? Include your Second Amendment Wins of the Week in the comments below.

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Brazil Will Condemn Itself to Repeat Past if ‘Anti-Gun’ Lula Returns to Power

Give Brazil’s president credit for trying, but the swamp wants him to fail and is demanding a return to its unchallengeable violence monopoly. (Jair Messias Bolsonaro/Facebook)

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Brazil can be rescued after being turned into a Covid-stricken global outcast by its ‘psychopath’ president Jair Bolsonaro, the politician best placed to defeat him in next year’s presidential election has insisted,” a story The Guardian reports. “Brazil’s former leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva left no doubt he was planning a finale to a dramatic political career.”

Bolsonaro and his government are being blamed for their response to the virus and the resulting deaths. And that may be what it takes to return confirmed leftist and Workers Party founding member Lula, “who has positioned himself as a reliable, moderate and upbeat alternative to Bolsonaro’s ‘moronic’ extremism,”  to power.

A “leftist” is now a “moderate”? And a return to power?

Lula is a former president of Brazil. “In 2017, he was convicted for bribery after accepting a seaside apartment from a construction company in exchange for lucrative government contracts,” DW Akademie reported. “The following year, another court found him guilty of corruption and he was sentenced to a total of 26 years on charges of taking bribes.

The conviction was voided by Brazil’s Supreme Court on an eight -three vote not because he was innocent, but on a technicality “that the lower federal court where Lula was tried lacked jurisdiction.”

So naturally, being a well-heeled socialist, the masses are behind Lula because of what it will be in his power to take and then give, and Bolsonaro supporters are being painted by the media as “far-right” extremists. And naturally, being a socialist with power, Lula rejects the notion that the right to keep and bear arms is the most egalitarian power-sharing arrangement ever devised and instead is all in for citizen disarmament and a government monopoly of violence.

“Brazil’s president Monday signed sweeping changes to the nation’s gun-control laws ending years of legislative wrangling,” Big News Network reported in 2003. “Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made official a bill passed by the Congress earlier this month, making it illegal for civilians to carry firearms.”

Per the Taipei Times, Lula signed laws to “prohibit possession of firearms in public places such as sports arenas, churches, government buildings and schools … raise the minimum age for gun ownership from 18 years to 25 years and require gun owners to register their weapons with both the Defense Ministry and the Justice Ministry.”

That was followed by a nationwide referendum proposing:

“The sale of firearms and ammunition is prohibited in the entire national territory, except to those entities provided in article 6 of this Law.”

“Brazilian gun ban vote backfires,” The Guardian reported. “The Brazilian government, the UN, the Roman Catholic Church and the Globo media conglomerate all supported the move, but the people gave a resounding no in a referendum that proposed a ban on gun sales. With over 90% of the votes counted, 64% rejected the ban.”

As usual, the elites and the useful idiots were for it. So, what was it the people knew that made all the difference?

“People here fear the police and their guns more than they do the (drug) dealers,” I quoted a slum dweller talking to The Washington Post in a GUNS Magazine article on Brazil.

Here’s why:

“Brazil’s police ‘execute thousands’” the BBC headline declares.

“You couldn’t really investigate complaints because you knew there was this curtain of silence that was always present,” former police ombudsman Professor Julita Lemgruber claimed, adding, “that she had personally dealt with cases in which summary executions had happened.”

“A lot of these killings are quasi-executions, with shots to the head and the heart,” a representative of the human rights group Global Justice told The Houston Chronicle, which reported “police in Rio and its suburbs … have taken the lives of more than 4,000 people in the past five years … In the worst massacre in Rio’s history, police officers gunned down 29 men, women and children on the night of March 31.”

So with this as the backdrop for the recent past, how is Lula selling citizen disarmament today, with a fawning media hanging on his every word?

“Brazil’s Lula: ‘Jobs And Books, Not Guns,’” teleSUR dutifully gushed.

“Commonsense gun safety,” right? That and the “majority” want disarmament edicts, right?

The tactics never change, and the results are always the same.

Bolsonaro, on the other hand, tried to ease Brazil’s tyrannical gun restrictions but then was forced to pull back, as this column reported in 2019. His presidential decree, bold by Brazilian standards but abysmally unacceptable by U.S. gun owner standards, declared:

“Permission for the rural gun-owner with legal possession of a firearm to use the weapon within the perimeter of their own property; Breaking of the monopoly on arms imports in Brazil; Permission for collectors, sport shooters and hunters (CSCs) to be able to travel between home and shooting site with the firearm and its ammunition; Armed Forces Veterans with ten years or more of experience will be entitled to bear firearms; The right to purchase up to 50 cartridges per year will go up to one thousand cartridges per year.”

Even that was too much for the Brazilian political establishment. The Supreme Court (the same group that put Lula back in the political power game) had to review it for “constitutionality.” And “[I]t faced a strong opposition, even from governors in states with high rates of violence who argued the order failed to improve security.”

It’s interesting that by having to pull back on his decree, it was pretty much demonstrated Bolsonaro did not have the political juice to overcome opposition from squabbling government entities at all levels driven by their own power agendas and determined to bring him down. Yet when it comes to his handling of a health crisis thrust on his country by global powers who keep changing their stories on what happened, who’s responsible for it, and what’s the best way to deal with it, he alone bears responsibility?

This looks to be another case of the left not letting a crisis of “progressive” government’s creation go to waste. It’s a test if Brazilians with short memories are desperate and dumb enough to fall for Lula’s siren promises. As philosopher George Santayana famously observed:

 “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

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About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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As TX ‘Constitutional Carry’ Bill Awaits Signing, Media Negativity Surges

“This is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms.” – Texas Republican State Sen. Charles Schwertner. (Dave Workman photo)

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- As Texas gun owners wait for Gov. Greg Abbott to sign legislation allowing permitless carry of sidearms in the Lone Star State—so-called “Constitutional Carry”—establishment media is pushing the negative in an attempt to portray the governor and gun rights supporters as being outside the mainstream. It’s the sort of situation that can produce accusations of media bias.

For example, CBS News reported, “The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the measure Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it despite the objections of law enforcement groups who say it would endanger the public and police.”

But the legislation “does not allow anyone prohibited under state or federal law from possessing a firearm to carry a firearm,” the National Rifle Association pointed out. NRA supported the bill.

Rarely does the establishment media acknowledge that armed criminals don’t bother with licenses, background checks or training requirements, and never have.

The vote on House Bill 1927 was 82-62 in the Texas House. The Senate passed the bill with a 17-13 vote the following day.

“Gun control groups also oppose the measure,” CBS News added, “noting the state’s recent history of mass shootings, including those at an El Paso Walmart, a church in Sutherland Springs and a high school outside Houston.”

But those shootings involved perpetrators armed with rifles, a fact apparently overlooked by reporters.

Perhaps to downplay the ability of legally-armed Texans to respond to such attacks, the New York Times observed, “More than a million people in Texas have permits to carry handguns…In 2019, when a man in a trench coat opened fire with a shotgun in a suburban church outside of Fort Worth, more than half a dozen people who had gathered for the service responded by drawing their own firearms.”

The Times report failed to acknowledge that one of those armed citizens, Jack Wilson, fatally shot the gunman within seconds after the killer opened fire, saving possibly several lives. One-shot to the head brought the murderer down, and it was all live-streamed by the church.

The Sun couldn’t resist observing, “The state of Texas is one step closer to turning into the Wild West as state lawmakers seek to pass an unprecedented gun proposal.” But that’s not accurate either, because there are about 20 precedents set by other states that have already adopted “constitutional carry” legislation.

Rolling Stone chimed in, reporting “Texas is on the verge of becoming the most-populous state in the nation to allow permit-less carry of handguns, meaning any adult who can legally obtain a gun can take it to town, without any training or certification. It’s the firearms equivalent of abandoning drivers (sic) licenses.”

The magazine ignores the fact that legally-armed Texas citizens are already “taking their guns to town,” and they have not been a threat to public safety other than in the wild imaginations of anti-gun extremists.

CNBC was quick to quote former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo—now police chief in Miami—who declared during an interview, “From chiefs to sheriffs to police labor, we do not support permit-less, open carry.”

Acevedo is no stranger to gun politics, having criticized Congress in the past for failing to adopt tougher gun control laws.

But KIRO, the CBS affiliate in Seattle, Washington, quoted Republican State Sen. Charles Schwertner, the bill’s chief sponsor, stating “This is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms. I think it is a bill that is the strongest bill I’ve seen in my legislative career regarding the rights of our Second Amendment.”

AmmoLand News reached out to Abbott’s office to find out when the governor will sign the bill. The governor’s office did not quickly respond.

Several news agencies, including the New York Times, have reported a poll conducted by the Texas Tribune and University of Texas “showed a majority of Texans do not support unlicensed carry, with 59% of those polled saying they oppose the measure. Results were split along political party lines with 85% of Democrats opposing the bill and 56% of Republicans polled supporting it.”

Unlicensed firearms carry by law-abiding citizens is an idea that has been gaining traction, at least in conservative states where Republicans hold legislative majorities and governors’ offices. With Texas coming aboard, more than 20 states will have abolished the permit requirement, though such permits will remain available allowing armed citizens to utilize state reciprocity for carrying concealed in other states.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz hailed passage of the legislation. In a tweet, Cruz observed, “I applaud Texas legislators for passing this landmark legislation to make constitutional carry a reality and to protect the right of law-abiding citizens.”

KIRO’s report said Giffords, the gun prohibition lobbying group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, former astronaut and now U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, also conducted a survey finding 71 percent of Texas gun owners “supported keeping universal background checks for gun purchases.” It’s not clear what that has to do with Constitutional Carry, but under the state’s permit system, applicants must go through another background check regardless whether they have passed such a check when buying a gun.

NRA chief lobbyist Jason Ouimet said in a prepared statement, “A right requiring you to pay a tax or obtain a government permission slip is not a right at all, that’s why the NRA is proud to have worked closely with state leaders and legislators to pass the most significant pro-Second Amendment measure in Texas history. Our members worked tirelessly to provide the crucial grassroots support to make constitutional carry a reality and restore the rights of law-abiding Texans.”

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About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

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Ohio: Senate Committee Hearing Bill to Protect 2A in Emergencies

On June 1^st, the Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee will hold the first hearing for Senate Bill 185 IMG NRA-ILA

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- On June 1^st, the Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee will hold the first hearing for Senate Bill 185, where it will receive sponsor testimony only. It ensures that Second Amendment rights remain protected during a state of emergency. Please contact committee members and ask them to SUPPORT SB 185.

CLICK HERE TAKE ACTION!

Senate Bill 185 declares firearm possession, transportation, carrying, commerce, training range access, as well as hunting and fishing to be life-sustaining, essential activities. Both local and state government authorities are prohibited from infringing upon these rights under the guise of a declared emergency, either on a local or state level. Further, the legislation provides legal recourse for people who experience unjust infringements on these essential rights.

Please contact committee members and ask them to SUPPORT SB 185.

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About NRA-ILA:

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org

 

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Anti-Semitic Threats Stopped by Armed Samaritan in Florida

Anti-Semitic Threats Stopped by Armed Samaritan in Florida, iStock-884197090

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-  A family from New Jersey learned the value of a legally armed population while vacationing in Florida. New Jersey is one of a handful of states where it is nearly impossible to obtain a permit to carry a gun for self-defense.  From foxnews.com:

Eric Orgen said he, his wife, and his daughter, 16, had just left a synagogue in Bal Harbour and were walking on the sidewalk when a group of men driving by started shouting and throwing garbage at them.

“They just started screaming some derogatory things towards Jewish people out the window,” Orgen told WPEC-TV of West Palm Beach. “My first thought was just making sure my wife and daughter were behind me so I could take the brunt of anything that was going to happen.”

Orgen told the station the men said things like, “Free Palestine!,” “Die Jew!” “F– you Jew,” and “I’m gonna rape your wife.”

The family was helped by a driver who witnessed the attack and decided to intervene, Orgen said. Armed with a gun, the stranger defended the family and chased the group away.

“The guy in the car behind them saw everything go on,” Orgen told WPEC-TV. “I saw him pull a gun and get in between – I mean he was almost there as our guardian angel, just protecting us. I think once they saw him they just took off.”

The event is reported to have happened on 18 May, 2021, at 7 p.m. on Collins Avenue near Harbour Way in Bal Harbour, FL. The sun would not set until 7:44. It was partly cloudy, about 80 degrees F, with a strong breeze from the West at 17 mph.  Visibility was good. The windows on the SUV were open.

The family was grateful to the armed Samaritan who intervened. From the Blaze:

A driver of an Audi was right behind the SUV and allegedly witnessed the hateful harassment. The motorist, who was armed, got out of his car and “pulled his gun to protect us and chased them as they drove away,” Orgen claimed. “So thankful that a total stranger stepped up to protect us!”

In other reports, the armed Samaritan was referred to as a “guardian angel” or a “good Samaritan”.

The mayor, Gabriel Groisman, would not acknowledge it was an armed Samaritan which intervened, on his Twitter responses.

The family reported the incident to the authorities. Ordinarily, a description of the perpetrators is included in police reports. It makes it easier to find them and arrest them. From local10.com:

They reported the incident to local law enforcement. Orgen said his daughter is back home safe in New Jersey, but she is still a bit shocked and confused.

This correspondent was unable to find any description of the four men in the white SUV.  Such a lack of obviously useful information does not happen by accident.  Did the men appear to be white? Hispanic? black? Were they wearing Islamic dress, KKK hoods, other?  For some reason, the police, media, and perhaps the Orgen family, are unwilling to tell us.

Orgen and another man were reportedly wearing traditional Jewish hats at the time they were harassed.

The police in Bal Harbour are not Second Amendment friendly. Here is a recent video showing  Bal Harbour police ignoring Florida’s open carry law.

Florida is one of only four states which prohibit open carry of holstered handguns in most public places. There are exceptions for camping, hunting, and fishing. The other three states which prohibit open carry are California, New York, and Illinois. South Carolina recently reformed its law to remove a ban on open carry.

Federal law currently prohibits visitors from other states from purchasing handguns and carrying them in Florida while they are visiting.  The law, in effect, is a conspiracy between the States and the Federal government to keep citizens of tyrannical states unarmed, even when visiting states who have greater respect for exercising Second Amendment rights.  It is a direct inversion of the intent of the Commerce Clause, which was to prevent the states from hindering the flow of commerce between the states.

The visitors from New Jersey were forbidden by law from carrying handguns for their own defense.

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About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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U.S. DOJ’s “Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent” Wasting Your Tax Money?

U.S. DOJ’s “Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent” iStock-1055138108

WASHINGTON D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. Department of Justice released its “Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime” to the Department’s employees on Wednesday.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco sent out the document obtained by AmmoLand News. It centers around the Department’s efforts at reducing violent crime. The memorandum separates offenses committed with firearms, which it calls an epidemic, from other forms of violent crimes. The document does highlight the civil unrest that took place last summer and the nationwide lockdown.

The document calls on the DOJ to make law enforcement more accountable to the community. It points to distrust in law enforcement as a roadblock to reducing violent crime because victims do not trust the police. It calls for more transparency and law enforcement to commit to “procedural justice and community policing.”

The memo also calls for the DOJ to issue grants for programs on the local level to prevent violent crime. The directive doesn’t specify if these programs will be government-run or if local non-profits will receive money. Some worry if these grants are given to non-profits, some of the funds will be used for programs that indoctrinate the people to Democrat causes.

In the late 2000s, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) received multiple grants from the federal government with the mission to help the poor. But the group was using those funds to get Democrats elected to national offices. The effort extended to the election of President Barack Obama. ACORN also faced multiple allegations of voter fraud. Over 400,000 voters registered by ACORN were rejected. In 2009, ACORN field director Amy Busefink and ACORN official Christopher Edwards pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.”

The memo calls for the Department to focus its enforcement resources on the most significant drivers of crime. Some of those areas are criminal organizations such as gangs, drug traffickers, and domestic abusers. It also lists gun violence in a separate category. Where the other places on the list concentrate on the people committing the crime, gun violence focuses on the tool used in the crime. This separation leads to the question of if a gang member uses a gun in a crime, does the DOJ consider that gun violence or gang violence? Why not just call it “violence?”

The DOJ will form a “Violent Crime Reduction Steering Committee.” The Deputy Attorney General’s Office will chair the group. It will include elements from the Office of the Associate Attorney General, the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal Division, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, the Office of Justice Programs, the Department’s law enforcement agencies, etc.

The document goes onto strengthening Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). The DOJ launched PSN in 2001 to combat violent crime. The project is a joint effort between “federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, community leaders, and other stakeholders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.” The group uses data analysis to determine what efforts reduce violent crime and look at lessons learned during its efforts.

The memo encourages every U.S. Attorney’s office to hire a community outreach specialist. This new position will be responsible for interfacing with chief federal law enforcement officers. They will also meet with local and state officers to find ways that the DOJ can better assist those agencies.

The memo states that the DOJ will push for an evidence-based approach to enforcement. It will also focus on intervention programs such as hospital-based violence intervention. The Department will continue to focus on social services, economic opportunities, and reentry programs.

The Department will not aim prosecutions at enforcing “statutes or bringing specific criminal charges.” The memo says U.S. Attorneys should use prosecutions to disrupt violence. It says that these U.S. Attorneys should use a data-driven model and use DOJ grants to work with “criminal justice researchers.” The memo did not have an example of these criminal justice researchers.

The memo calls for the DOJ to look at initiatives run by the ATF, DEA, FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Department says it will implement changes to those programs to align them with the core principles of the memo. It says these agencies should not concentrate on arresting and charging criminals, which it calls “imperfect proxies of raw numbers.” It calls for a new way of measuring success.”

The programs will be implemented as soon as possible.

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About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.

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