Department of Justice Seal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DAG

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1999

(202) 616-2777

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888


STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL


Later today, I will join the President, Senator Biden, Senator Leahy, Congressman Conyers and America's law enforcement heroes, the Top Cops of the National Association of Police Officers, in a ceremony to honor all that law enforcement does for all of us here in America.

This is a particularly timely event. As you know, this past Sunday the FBI announced that crime has dropped for a seventh straight year and is now at its lowest level since 1973. Crime, especially violent crime, is down in every region and in every category.

There is certainly no one reason for these reductions, but I count among them the hard work of law enforcement and President Clinton's visionary plan to put 100,000 new police officers on America's streets. We have made grants to fund all 100,000 of these officers and over 55,000 of those officers are already on the street, helping protect the public.

It is also clear that our policies regarding gun violence are working. Violent crimes with firearms have been reduced by more than 35 % since 1992. The Brady Law has kept guns out of the hands of over 400,000 felons, fugitives and others who should not have guns; there is closer coordination between law enforcement agencies; and there are more prosecutions of gun criminals today than there were when this Administration began in 1992.

But, we cannot become complacent. If we let up, crime could bounce back once again. That is why we need to continue funding the COPS program, and it is why we are working to implement the President's gun violence reduction strategy. Under that strategy, each U.S. Attorney in the country is putting in place a plan to reduce gun violence in their area, working with ATF and state and local partners. Together these partnerships are developing strategies that respond to local concerns and assign gun prosecutions to the entity that can most effectively punish the gun offender. Under this approach, in the last year, 34% more high-end gun offenders went to federal prison than in 1992.

The fact that we must keep crime going down is also why we need to call on Congress to act. We need Congress to pass the common-sense gun safety legislation that the Senate already passed in a bipartisan vote. We need to extend the Brady Law's protection to gun shows and flea markets, deny guns to those who committed violent offenses as juveniles, require child safety locks on handguns, and give law enforcement the tools it needs to further reduce gun crime. We also need to fund the COPS program.

Yesterday was six months since the tragedy at Columbine. We need gun safety legislation now.

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