4/2/13, "Obama's Chicago Dead Last In Federal Gun Prosecutions," IBD Editorial
"A murdered Chicago teen's mother attends the president's speech on gun control, not knowing federal gun-crime prosecutions have in fact dropped on his watch — with the Windy City bringing up the rear.
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Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, the mother of murdered 15-year-old
Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton, was one of 20 mothers who lost children
to criminal violence who were at the White House last Thursday to hear
President Obama speak once again on the need for gun control.
Obama met with her and some of the others in a small group before his formal remarks and told them "how serious this issue really is and something needs to be done about it," she said.
But President Obama did not tell this group that Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that the Northern Illinois district ranked 90th out of 90 in prosecutions of federal weapons crimes per capita.
David Burnham, co-director of TRAC, states their analysis says that according to case-by-case U.S. Justice Department information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, there were 52 federal gun prosecutions in Illinois North (Chicago) in 2012, or 5.52 per million in population.
By this measure, compared with the 90 federal judicial districts in the U.S., the prosecution rate in Chicago was the lowest in the country.
Considering that there were 522 people murdered in Chicago in 2012, one would think that the documented lack of enforcement of existing gun laws by a president seeking more of them would be a national scandal.
"Why doesn't NBC News start with: 'Shocking news on Chicago. Of all the jurisdictions in the country, Chicago's dead last on enforcement of the federal gun laws?'" the NRA's Wayne LaPierre recently asked NBC host David Gregory, who once famously waved a banned ammunition clip on his show.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago are challenging the report, claiming most gun cases here are left in county or state courts where offenders can get higher sentences.
That doesn't explain why Chicago is last and why the Obama administration, which has staged a plethora of gun-control photo-ops, wouldn't want to highlight federal efforts in the president's hometown.
The Syracuse study also showed that nationally federal gun crime prosecutions hit a decade low in 2011 under President Obama, down 40% from their peak under President George W. Bush in 2004.
The number of federal weapons prosecutions fell from about 11,000 in 2004 to about 6,000 under the Obama administration in 2011, before ticking up to 7,770 in 2012.
Prosecutions for making a false statement when buying a gun are down 29% from five years ago, while prosecutions for illegal possession fell 14%, according to federal data.
This correlates with data from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), which found that in 2010, of 6 million Americans who applied to buy a gun, less than 2% — or 76,000 — were denied. Of those, the ATF referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. Of them, just 44 were prosecuted, and only 13 were punished for lying or buying a gun illegally.
President Obama didn't explain to Hadiya Pendleton's mom — or to the other mothers assembled — that while he pushes for universal background checks, which career criminals will ignore, there is only a slightly higher chance that you will be prosecuted for an actual federal gun crime (1.7 in 10,000 according to the Syracuse study) than you will be struck by lightning (1 in 10,000 according to the National Weather Service).
In light of the administration's record on prosecuting gun crimes, its complaints about gun show loopholes, assault weapons bans, and universal background checks ring hollow.
Perhaps President Obama is too focused on disarming potential victims to worry that the nation's existing federal gun laws are not being faithfully executed." via Free Republic
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Ed. note: Please excuse bright white background behind most of this post. It was put there by an illegal hacker who dislikes free speech.
Obama met with her and some of the others in a small group before his formal remarks and told them "how serious this issue really is and something needs to be done about it," she said.
But President Obama did not tell this group that Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that the Northern Illinois district ranked 90th out of 90 in prosecutions of federal weapons crimes per capita.
David Burnham, co-director of TRAC, states their analysis says that according to case-by-case U.S. Justice Department information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, there were 52 federal gun prosecutions in Illinois North (Chicago) in 2012, or 5.52 per million in population.
By this measure, compared with the 90 federal judicial districts in the U.S., the prosecution rate in Chicago was the lowest in the country.
Considering that there were 522 people murdered in Chicago in 2012, one would think that the documented lack of enforcement of existing gun laws by a president seeking more of them would be a national scandal.
"Why doesn't NBC News start with: 'Shocking news on Chicago. Of all the jurisdictions in the country, Chicago's dead last on enforcement of the federal gun laws?'" the NRA's Wayne LaPierre recently asked NBC host David Gregory, who once famously waved a banned ammunition clip on his show.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago are challenging the report, claiming most gun cases here are left in county or state courts where offenders can get higher sentences.
That doesn't explain why Chicago is last and why the Obama administration, which has staged a plethora of gun-control photo-ops, wouldn't want to highlight federal efforts in the president's hometown.
The Syracuse study also showed that nationally federal gun crime prosecutions hit a decade low in 2011 under President Obama, down 40% from their peak under President George W. Bush in 2004.
The number of federal weapons prosecutions fell from about 11,000 in 2004 to about 6,000 under the Obama administration in 2011, before ticking up to 7,770 in 2012.
Prosecutions for making a false statement when buying a gun are down 29% from five years ago, while prosecutions for illegal possession fell 14%, according to federal data.
This correlates with data from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), which found that in 2010, of 6 million Americans who applied to buy a gun, less than 2% — or 76,000 — were denied. Of those, the ATF referred 4,732 cases for prosecution. Of them, just 44 were prosecuted, and only 13 were punished for lying or buying a gun illegally.
President Obama didn't explain to Hadiya Pendleton's mom — or to the other mothers assembled — that while he pushes for universal background checks, which career criminals will ignore, there is only a slightly higher chance that you will be prosecuted for an actual federal gun crime (1.7 in 10,000 according to the Syracuse study) than you will be struck by lightning (1 in 10,000 according to the National Weather Service).
In light of the administration's record on prosecuting gun crimes, its complaints about gun show loopholes, assault weapons bans, and universal background checks ring hollow.
Perhaps President Obama is too focused on disarming potential victims to worry that the nation's existing federal gun laws are not being faithfully executed." via Free Republic
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Ed. note: Please excuse bright white background behind most of this post. It was put there by an illegal hacker who dislikes free speech.
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