(gun control)
from NewsMax
Oliver North
May 14, 1999
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration wants tough new
anti-gun laws. The U.S. Senate seems willing to vote for them. And
at least one prominent Republican has come out against concealed
weapons permits despite their success at reducing violent crime.
The aftermath of the Colorado high school killings has driven
Washington nuts. Again.
Within hours of the tragedy, Clinton leapt to the microphones to
denounce the "gun lobby." Within days, a legislative package was
announced. Then three weeks to the day of the most recent high
school killings, America's First and Second Families hosted a "White
House Strategy Session on Children, Violence and Responsibility."
It was a farce.
The attendees included intellectual giants such as "Melrose Place"
star Andrew Shue, poet Maya Angelou and Latin singing sensation
Gloria Estefan. Not one chief of police of a major metropolitan
jurisdiction attended. No purveyor of big-screen graphic violence
participated. No manufacturer of violent interactive video games
was there. And the much-maligned NRA - the alleged villain in this
drama - wasn't even invited.
Who loses the most when a national discussion on juvenile violence
becomes nothing more than a celebrity-laden photo-op? America's
children. Consider the facts:
Each year Americans under the age of 18 are responsible for nearly
two million violent crimes. And while violent crime overall is
decreasing in America, teenage violence is increasing dramatically.
Since 1965, the number of 12 year-olds arrested for violent crime
has increased by 211 percent, by 301 percent among 13-14
year-olds, and by 297 percent among 15 year-olds.
And while young people are increasingly responsible for crime in
our society, statistics show that they are not being treated like
criminals. Approximately 50 percent of juveniles arrested for violent
crimes receive only probation, fines or some form of community
service. Worse still, charges against almost 40 percent of these
violent juveniles are dismissed, meaning that minors who commit
assault, armed robbery, rape and worse, are often put right back out
on the streets - and eligible to legally buy a firearm when they reach
majority. Now that's crazy.
But craziness hasn't stopped Washington from trying to come up
with a few more federal gun laws to add to the 20,000 or so already
on the books. Consider just a few of the current laws that aren't
being enforced:
Federal "gun-free school zone" acts bar firearms from school
campuses. Over the past two years, more than 6,000 students have
been caught with firearms in schools. There were only 13
prosecutions. Why?
Every time he talks about the "problem with guns," Clinton brags
that the "Brady Law" has prevented more than 250,000 prohibited
buyers from purchasing firearms. It is a federal crime for a felon to
even try to buy a gun. Yet, there have been no prosecutions for this
offense in the past three years. Why?
"Straw purchasing," the term used when a gun is legally purchased
then illegally transferred to a prohibited owner, is a violation of
federal law. In the past 2 years there have been only 11
prosecutions for illegally transferring handguns to juveniles. Why?
Federal law prohibits juveniles from possessing handguns. In the
last 2 years only 11 juveniles - known affectionately to law
enforcement as "gangbangers" - have been subject to federal
prosecution. Why? And running guns across state lines without a
license is prohibited by federal law. Yet in the past 2 years there
have been only 37 federal prosecutions nationwide for providing
firearms to felons. Why?
Before we decide that the prescription is more gun laws - we need
to answer these questions in order to properly diagnose the
problem. And if at least part of the problem of youth violence has to
do with guns, let's start with a policy of zero-tolerance for criminals.
The NRA-endorsed "Project Exile," has been tested and proven to
dramatically and immediately reduce violent crime and save lives -
cutting homicides and gun crimes by as much as 50 percent.
"Project Exile" sends violent felons caught with firearms to jail for
five years. There isn't any secret to "Project Exile," there just aren't
any loopholes.
If we fail to prosecute felons with guns, it doesn't matter if you
have five new gun laws or five million. The people most likely to
commit a violent crime, the people most likely to give guns to
children, the people most likely to provide the means for tragedies
like what we witnessed in Littleton, are convicted felons with guns.
Our children will never be safe from gun violence until we enforce
the laws on the books. But whatever we do, we should not abridge
the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens in order to protect
law abiding citizens from those who break the law. That would be
nuts.
COPYRIGHT 1999 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.