Battle Flags, Etc.

NRA version of local/federal DC efforts to search and disarm vehicles and individuals
Efforts to eliminate or ignore the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
D.C. GUN CRACKDOWN: A special team of Washington, D.C., police officers and BATF agents will begin a crackdown on illegal firearms activities in the nation's capital. U.S. Attorney Eric Holder, who's spearheading the effort dubbed Operation Ceasfire, says these special squads will be targeting vehicles which are in violation of safety standards i.e., operating with improper lights or heavily tinted windows. They will also target pedestrians who may fit a specific profile of an individual likely to be carrying a gun. BATF agents will enter any information about the seized firearms into two different local and national databases which track firearms. Could it be that officials have conceded that the District's handgun ban, which has been in place for almost 20 years, hasn't stopped the criminal misuse of firearms?

From: NRA Alerts (alerts@gatekeeper.nra.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (rkba-alert@gatekeeper.nra.org)
Subject: INFO: NRA Statement on S. 735
June 9, 1995

Home Ordering Email Articles Waco pics



NRA version of local/federal DC efforts to search and disarm vehicles and individuals
Federal anti-weapons teams to seize guns by traffic stops and special
Gun seizure for Jackson; could include traffic stops and door-to-door visits.

Battle Flags, Etc.

Federal anti-weapons teams to seize guns by traffic stops and special
enforcement operations in DC.

10 March 95

Efforts to eliminate or ignore the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal officers are teaming with local police in a crackdown on illegal guns in the nation's capital.

The plan, dubbed ``Operation Cease-Fire,'' calls for special anti-weapons teams to be dispatched to six of the city's seven police districts, U.S. Attorney Eric Holder said Friday.

Each team will have at least one agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms assigned to trace confiscated weapons. Some teams will include U.S. marshals to allow them to cross from the district into suburban Maryland and Virginia to pursue suspects.

``We have stressed the need to address this problem in a regional way, and I think this represents an unprecedented amount of law-enforcement talent,'' Holder said after a closed meeting of more than 70 federal, local and state law-enforcement officials.

Last year the Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies confiscated more than 4,200 illegal guns in the District of Columbia, which has one of the nation's highest murder rates.

Illegal guns are assumed to far outnumber legally registered weapons in Washington. In practice, no gun licenses are issued in the district except for law-enforcement officers, said Kevin Olson, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

``Operation Cease-Fire'' include traffic stops and what Holder calls ``special enforcement operations'' to get illegal guns. Holder pledged the seizures would be ``proper and constitutional,'' but did not elaborate.

The plan includes a proposal for upgrading possession of an illegal firearm from a misdemeanor to a felony. The proposal is now before the city council, where its fate is uncertain.

Holder pledged to appoint a firearms prosecutor to handle cases developed during the operation.

He also has endorsed a citywide curfew for teens under 16, an idea that has been revived in the city council after being rejected last year.

Home Ordering Email Articles Waco pics



NRA version of local/federal DC efforts to search and disarm vehicles and individuals
Federal anti-weapons teams to seize guns by traffic stops and special
Gun seizure for Jackson; could include traffic stops and door-to-door visits.

Battle Flags, Etc.

Law enforcers plan gun seizure for Jackson ... Joint JPD, U.S. attorney's office operation could include traffic stops and door-to-door visits.

By Grace Simmons
Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer

Efforts to eliminate or ignore the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
The Jackson Police Department and the U.S. attorney's office are planning gun seizure operation in jackson that could include traffic stops and door-to-door visits in areas that are hot spots for crime.

The operation will be modeled after nationally known, aggressive gun programs in Kansas City, Mo., and Indianapolis, Ind. In the Kansas City experiment, traffic stops in a targeted 80-by-10-block area proved to be the most effective way of finding guns.

U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott said Monday his office will be bringing in Kansas City and Indianapolis police officers for an all-day training session for Jackson police on June 29.

"It will be up to Chief (Robert) Johnson to pick a zone and a time period in which to conduct a gun seizure operation," Pigott said.

Johnson said he believes that officers aggressively applying gun laws can reduce the number of guns on the streets. Also, he thinks Mississippi's gun laws, which he describes as permissive, are contributing to the city's homicide rate.

"If you got the ability to carry around a gun or as many guns in your car as you want to - and there appears to be a sort of relaxed attitude about people carrying guns - then (guns) are going to be readily available for people to settle an argument," Johnson said.

Gunshots killed 81 of Jackson's record 95 homicides in 1994. More than half of this year's 37 victims have died from gun-related violence.

The concentrated attack on guns will focus on getting repeat offenders, which is another of the U.S. attorney's office joint anti-crime initiatives. If caught with a weapon, people with three or more convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses face 15 years to life in prison.

"Crime statistics show that as few as six percent of all criminal offenders commit as many as 60 percent of all violent crimes," Pigott said.

The gun program has the backing of Ward 4 Councilman Credell Calhoun, who asked Johnson last week about whether there was a way police could search vehicles and seize weapons during roadblocks.

"I am just trying to figure a way to get some of those automatic weapons that are illegal off the streets," Calhoun said.

"Also for those young people under 21 that are doing most of the shooting, we could probably catch those people in advance if we had a systematic way of searching cars around the city of Jackson," he said.

Pigott and Johnson said law enforcement must be mindful of constitutional requirements for searching automobiles and seizing weapons. Herbert Thibodeaux, a member of the state Rifle and Pistol association, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, said he would favor a gun seizure program as long as officers followed the law. "Anybody is going to be for (it) when a police officer by legal means finds somebody in illegal possession of a gun," Thibodeaux said.

"Certainly if we have reasonable grounds to stop a vehicle and search it, we will," Johnson said. "We just can't decide that a car looks like it is suspicious and (say) 'I think I will stop it and search it.' "

... end text ---

Note: Here in Mississippi there are no restrictions on gun ownership or registration requirements. Also, it is legal for anyone over the age of 18 to carry a loaded concealed pistol in his car without a permit. They may catch a few fellons and underage kids (the dumb ones), but except for these two cases, it is very legal here to have and possess firearms.

Clarion Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi
May 16, 1995

Previous Articles Next Articles

>
Home Ordering Email Articles Waco pics



NRA version of local/federal DC efforts to search and disarm vehicles and individuals
Federal anti-weapons teams to seize guns by traffic stops and special
Gun seizure for Jackson; could include traffic stops and door-to-door visits.