Myth: Gun laws are being enforced

Fact: During the Clinton administration, federal prosecutions of gun-related crimes dropped more than 44 percent.¹

Fact: Of the 3,353 prohibited individuals that obtained firearms, the Clinton administration only investigated 110 of them (3.3%).²

Fact: Despite 536,000 prohibited buyers caught by the National Instant Background Check,only 6,700 people (1.25%) have been charged for these firearms violations. This includes 71% of the violations coming from convicted or indicted felons.³ None of these crimes were prosecuted by the Federal government in 1996, 1997, or 1998.⁴

Fact: In 1998, the government prosecuted just eight children for gun law violations.⁵ In that same year, there were only:

• 8 prosecutions for juvenile handgun possession.

• 6 prosecutions for handgun transfer to juveniles.

• 1 prosecution for Brady Law violations.

Fact: Some of the reasons listed for not prosecuting known gun criminals include “minimal federal interest” and “DOJ/U.S. Attorney policy”.⁶

Fact: Half of referrals concerning violent criminals were closed without investigation or prosecution.⁷

Fact: The average sentence for a federal firearms violation dropped from 57 months to 46 months from 1996 to 1998.⁸

Fact: 18-20 year olds commit over 23% of all gun murders.⁹ None of these criminals are allowed by law to purchase a handgun, but the Federal government under Clinton rarely enforced this law.

Fact: Project Exile in Richmond, Virginia prosecutes felons caught with guns using Federal laws that require mandatory imprisonment. The first year result was a 33% drop in homicides for the Richmond Metro area in a year where the national murder rate was climbing.¹⁰ This shows that enforcement works. And according to Andrew McBride of the Richmond Justice Department Office, these cases are as easy to prosecute as “picking change up off the street.”

This is an excerpt from “Gun Facts” by Guy Smith, available free from http://www.gunfacts.info