U.S. Department of Justice Responds with the Facts to NRA's Misrepresentations on Gun Prosecutions

Firearms Prosecutions in America: Increased Coordination and More Prosecutions

• Crime is down. Violent crimes committed with guns - including homicides, robberies, and aggravated assaults - fell by an average of 27% between 1992 and 1997, and the nation's violent crime rate has dropped by nearly 20% since 1992.

• Overall firearms prosecutions are up. Criticisms of federal prosecution statistics ignore the basic fact that both federal and state authorities prosecute gun cases, and federal authorities generally focus on the worst type of offenders.
  • Although the number of federal prosecutions for lower-level offenders (persons serving sentences of 3 years or less) is down, the number of higher-level offenders (those sentenced to 5 or more years) is up by nearly 30 percent (from 1049 to 1345).

  • At the same time, the total number of federal and state prosecutions is up sharply - about 25 percent more criminals are sent to prison for state and federal weapons offenses than in 1992 (from 20,681 to 25,186).

• We're working together. The Clinton Administration has pursued a strategy of collaborative partnerships between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in order to bring all resources to bear on violent crime, including gun crime.
  • These partnerships are effective and make sense. They allow each community to identify their unique firearm and other violent crime problems and to implement the techniques that are most likely to have a positive impact on these local problems.

• Results speak for themselves. In short, the increased collaboration among federal, state, and local law enforcement has resulted in: (1) a more efficient distribution of prosecutorial responsibilities, (2) a steady increase in firearms prosecutions on a cumulative basis and, most importantly, (3) a sharp decline in the number of violent crimes committed with guns.

• Stay focused on the real issue. Since more gun criminals are going to jail, it's clear that the gun lobby's attack on federal law enforcement efforts are meant to take attention away from the real issue -- namely, reducing gun violence and stopping children and criminals from getting guns.

Follow this link to view the Statement of the Department of Justice Before the Subcommittees on Criminal Justice Oversight and Youth Violence Concerning Firearms Prosecutions

(This file is in Adobe PDF (Acrobat) format. You can download the Acrobat reader for free from www.adobe.com).