Prosecutors take aim at gun crimes
   The Las Vegas Review-Journal  (NV)
       Final ; CITY ; Page 1B
   March 8, 2002

Byline: J.M. KALIL
    A new, federally funded team of local prosecutors working with
police, ATF agents and the U.S. attorney's office will focus solely on
curtailing gun violence in the Las Vegas Valley
by seeking stiffer sentences for all crimes involving firearms.
    Top law enforcement officials said Thursday that the team's April 1
launch will bring a new approach to the way firearm violence is prosecuted
in Southern Nevada.
    To put it simply, they said, all gun crimes will now mean hard time.
    The team of Clark County prosecutors will intensely heighten the push
to get criminals who use guns off the streets and keep them in prison
longer, District Attorney Stewart Bell said.
    " Gun violence is what makes people afraid to go to the corner store
at night," Bell said. "Whether it's drive-by shootings or armed robberies,
we no longer want to negotiate gun
violence cases for anything less than prison time, period. That will be
our objective: You use a gun in Clark County, you go to prison."
    The gun crimes unit, partially funded by a $480,000 Justice
Department grant, will be composed of five deputy district attorneys and
two investigators, Bell said. They will conduct
weekly meetings with federal prosecutors, Las Vegas police firearms
detectives and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to
discuss pending criminal cases, Bell
said.
    Their main objective is to share information and determine whether
each person charged with a gun crime locally should be prosecuted in
federal or county court to receive a maximum
sentence.
    Daniel Bogden, U.S. attorney for Nevada, said the team's overall
mission is simple.
    "We're looking to attack the violence of gun offenders," he said. "We
are focusing on them and taking them off the streets immediately."
    In many crimes involving firearms, such as a robbery of a federally
insured Las Vegas bank, both the Clark County district attorney's office
and the U.S. attorney's office have jurisdiction of the case.
    "In those cases, you can make a strategic decision where to prosecute
it," Bell said. "We can look at that situation and decide which justice
system is going to give us the biggest bang
for our buck."
    Mandatory minimums in federal sentencing often ensure that bank
robbers receive harsher sentences when they are prosecuted in U.S.
District Court. But certain aggravating circumstances
that can occur during the commission of a gun crime are subject to more
severe penalties if they are prosecuted in Clark County District Court.
    A preliminary version of the team, which has been operating since
late October as Project Effect, has concentrated solely on apprehending
and prosecuting felons in possession of firearms, Bogden said.
   

Bell said that team has already had tremendous success. "We're being
looked at as the measuring stick at what can be done around the country,"
he said.
    John Torres, special ATF agent in charge of the San Francisco field
office, which includes Nevada in its jurisdiction, said the preliminary
team's effort has been amazing.
    "We're going to put a lot of people in jail with this and keep them
there," Torres said. "Since we started, we've traced over 1,000 guns with
Metro and now we're getting raw intelligence about firearms traffickers.
The next project on this is going after the sources of those firearms."
    Sheriff Jerry Keller said his officers who investigate gun crimes
"love" the preliminary team and are looking forward to the new unit
because the investigative work police do will put
criminals in jail longer.
    The announcement of the team came a day after Keller presented city
leaders with statistics showing that violent crime, much of which involves
firearms, jumped more than 13 percent last year compared to 2000.
    The increase was fueled by a 28 percent rise in aggravated assault
and a 43 percent increase in homicides.
    "You look at a 28 percent increase in aggravated assault, and you're
going to get that down when you take guns out of the hands of criminals,"
Keller said. "I think we're going to see
dramatic results with the team. People say you can't affect the homicide
rate, but I think you can. You start by taking criminals' guns away."
    The funding, granted through the Bush administration's two-year, $533
million Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, will help finance the unit
for four years. The grant requires additional financial support from Clark
County government.
    Bell said funds generated by the bad check unit, a division he
instituted shortly after taking office in 1995, will fully bankroll the
county's required contribution during the team's first year.
    Bell and Keller said they are confident the team will be continually
funded by the county after it proves successful in stemming gun violence.
    "I personally have no doubt that we are going to be able to
statistically demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of this
effort," Bell said. "Everyone is going to agree this is
worth the expense."

This is known as "using the laws already on the books."

Be careful what you wish for.

You might get it.

Let's hope they stick to criminals that use guns, instead of inventing paperwork "crimes" to charge honest people with.  From words like this "We're going to put a lot of people in jail with this and keep them there," Torres said. "Since we started, we've traced over 1,000 guns with Metro and now we're getting raw intelligence about firearms traffickers.  The next project on this is going after the sources of those firearms."   I don't see much hope for that.

Still can't spell.  [:(]