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| NCJ Number:
|
NCJ 201982
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| Title:
|
Enforcement Gap: Federal Gun Laws Ignored
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| Author(s):
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Jim Kessler ; Michael Harrington ; Ed Hill
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| Corporate Author:
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Americans for Gun Safety Foundation
United States
|
| Sale:
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Americans for Gun Safety Foundation
Washington, DC United States |
| Publisher Url*:
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http://www.agsfoundation.com |
| Publication Date:
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05/2003 |
| Pages:
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42 |
| Type:
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Legislation/policy analysis |
| Origin:
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United States |
| Language:
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English |
| Annotation:
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Based on raw data on Federal prosecutions of Federal gun crimes
during fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, this study analyzed the
22 major Federal gun statutes and calculated the number of Federal prosecutions for each jurisdiction. |
| Abstract:
|
The study found that over the three fiscal years examined, Federal prosecutors filed 25,002 Federal gun-crime cases. Over this same period, crime data indicate that more than 330,000 guns that were used in violent crimes showed signs of black-market trafficking; 420,000 firearms were stolen; 450,000 individuals lied on the Federal background check form used to determine eligibility for a gun purchase; 93,000 gun crimes were committed by those under the age of 18; and thousands of guns with
obliterated serial numbers were recovered by law enforcement
agencies. It is a violation of Federal law to traffic in
firearms, steal guns, lie on the background check form, sell to
minors, and obliterate serial numbers on guns. This means that
over the period of this study well over a million crimes were
committed that involved the violation of a Federal gun law. The
25,002 prosecutions represent a ratio of approximately 2 Federal
prosecutions for every 100 Federal gun crimes recorded. The study
therefore concludes that there is a vast enforcement gap between
the level of Federal gun crimes and the number of Federal
prosecutions; 20 of the 22 major Federal gun statutes are rarely
enforced; and although the Bush administration has made progress
in enforcing these 2 gun statutes (illegal possession of a firearm by a felon or other prohibited buyer and the possession of a firearm while in the commission of a violent or drug-related Federal crime), it has made little or no progress in closing the enforcement gap for the other 20 major Federal gun laws. Extensive tabular data |
| Main Term(s):
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Court statistics |
| Index Term(s):
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Federal law violations ; Gun control ; Prosecution ; Gun control legislation ; Juvenile gun ownership ; Federal legislation |
| |
To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=201982
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* A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents
not available online, a link to the publisher's web site is provided.
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