Federal prosecutors plan crackdown on guns in western Iowa
   Associated Press  (IA)
   March 6, 2002

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - Federal prosecutors plan to crack down on gun
offenses hoping to prevent an escalation in gun-related crime on the Iowa
side of the state line after Omaha, Neb., heightens enforcement.

Federal prosecutors will travel from Des Moines to Council Bluffs to
prosecute cases, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Omaha federal prosecutors began to target felons caught with firearms in
January after the U.S. Attorney's Office announced a national program
called Project Safe Neighborhoods. The initiative coordinates local police
and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms with federal prosecution.
County prosecutors have always referred some firearms cases to federal
court. But now they will do so with almost all
felon-in-possession-of-firearms cases. In state court, those offenders
could receive relatively light sentences or probation. If convicted in
federal court, they will receive as much as 10 years in a federal
penitentiary with no chance for parole. Felons with three prior
convictions for violent crimes or major drug offenses get a mandatory
15-year minimum sentence.

Without a similar push from federal prosecutors in Iowa, Council Bluffs
authorities worried they would see more Omaha criminals pushed across the
state line.

"For years we have kind of been an island here," Pottawattamie County
Attorney Rick Crowl said. "But the federal prosecutors know that we're
kind of isolated and they're really willing to help us out."

The county has about 15 pending firearms-related cases that could be
candidates for federal prosecution.

Among the first cases that could be prosecuted on the federal level are a
Glenwood man and a Lincoln, Neb., man who police say were pulled over last
week with firearms and nearly 3 pounds of methamphetamine.

Nebraska U.S. Attorney Mike Heavican said his office has worked on 25 such
cases since January and produced seven indictments.

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Des Moines, which covers
Council Bluffs and the southern half of Iowa, expect many cases from
Council Bluffs.

"There's no question that Project Safe Neighborhoods is a priority for the
Department of Justice," said Al Overbaugh, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney
Steven Colloton. "And Council Bluffs will be one of the areas we'll
certainly key on."

Officials might use a quiet and little-known federal court to try the
cases.

The courtroom is two floors above the post office in downtown Council
Bluffs. It includes an office for a U.S. attorney and a law library. The
facilities have hardly been used since the federal building opened in the
1950s. Crowl and Colloton looked through the building last week.

The courtroom is used for occasional bankruptcy cases and about five or 10
civil trials a year. No criminal trials have been held there for at least
the past 17 years, said Shirley Erickson, the deputy clerk that runs the
office.

Overbaugh said the U.S. Attorney's Office has no plans to open a branch
office in Council Bluffs similar to an office in Davenport.

Trying cases in Council Bluffs would depend on getting a judge from U.S.
District Court in Des Moines.

I've lived in Iowa, and contrary to popular notions they have a GUN PROBLEM.  The problem is that those Iowegian farmers only have one gun.  They buy a Mossberg 870 combo and use it to hunt bird and deer.

The more astute Iowegian "gun nuts" may have as many as two guns.  They own the obligatory Mossberg 500 combo AND a Winchester .30-30 that they use to - get this - hunt deer with down in Missouri!  Crazy bastards!

Despite their serious lack of personal weaponry, the Scanderhoovian widow women and Tom Ballsak who runs the state government keeps on pushing for more "common sense" gun control measures.

Perhaps they heard I was moving back???


Avitor  [img]www.milpubs.com/aviator.gif[/img]

Project "Safe Neighborhoods"?  In Iowa? Give me a break!  What about some of those neighborhoods in Chicago, LA, DC, NY or Philly?  It seems to me they they are going after the easy prey while they are chickenshit to go after the real gangbanger problem in the country.

Enforcing laws on the law abiding is always more rewarding than trying to police rampant criminal activity. Unfortunately one leads directly to the other. As you remove private protection from the law abiding citizens, the law breakers are quick to move in on the now defenseless victims. This produces an outcry for more police protection, more enforcement of laws against the law abiding, and more opportunity for criminal success, thus propagating the vicious circle.
This principle has been demonstrated in practice worldwide- In Australia, England, and at home in Chicago, DC, etc....

Iowa has a bigger problem with METH.  All the kids out there are cooking that crap in their back yards with anhydrous ammonia that they stole from the local co-op.

Guns certainly aren't a problem in Iowa.

Perhaps they need an ATF initiative "Operation Safe Corn Crib".