Eric Adams of New York City believes you have to pursue guns if you wish to lessen gun violence. His plan relies heavily on disrupting gun trafficking, seizing guns, and arresting people for illegal gun possession.
This tactic is not likely to succeed. Even worse, this strategy is unlikely to work. If it doesn’t distinguish between gun-owners who are a threat to public safety or people who have guns to protect themselves, then the emphasis on firearm possession arrests will only make the injustice more severe.
According to the Justice Department, “about 2 million illegal firearms were found in New York City during 1993”. In New York City, police seized approximately 6,000 guns in the last year. This is despite three decades worth of seizures.
In light of this reality, it is unlikely that attempts to reduce the gun supply will succeed. The average period between the initial sale of a crime gun and its confiscation in New York is almost 12 years.
New York has seen a sharp increase in the number of homicides in Philadelphia. Law enforcement officials from that area are skeptical gun seizures or supply-side strategies are an effective method to address the problem.
According to the January report of a panel that included local police officers and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (a Jan. Report), nearly 13,000,000 guns were sold legally in Pennsylvania between 1999 and 2020. This is an average sale rate of over 1,600 per day. In Pennsylvania, law enforcement agencies confiscated an average 22 guns each day.
Krasner stated in his report that “with such a large supply of guns”, he said, “a law enforcement policy prioritizing local seizing does not reduce the availability of guns.” He warns that if this strategy involves increasing pedestrian and car stops, it could be detrimental to the communities it’s meant to assist.
The Philadelphia report, just like New York’s, notes that “most guns used or recovered” were purchased long ago. This means that any attempts to restrict the supply of future guns will not affect the gun violence crisis. Based on 100 shootings, the study confirms that criminals usually obtain weapons through illicit transfers and theft. Sources that aren’t affected by increased background checks or new restrictions.
The effectiveness of Adams’ strategy is also in doubt based on data from Baltimore. Baltimore has seen a rise in homicides over the past few years. This analysis is based on data from 31 years worth of gun-seizure and homicide statistics. Baltimore BattlegroundReport published last week shows that “seizing illegal firearms does not decrease violent crime.” However, police still frequently refer to gun seizures as well as gun possession arrests.
It is often unfair to arrest people who have illegally acquired guns. Krasner believes gun possession arrests should be specific to make it clear that there are two types of gun violence drivers: illegal gun owners and law-abiding gun owners.
Krasner says that if “people feel unsafe under the police,” Krasner suggests, then they could “consider the danger of police catching them with illegal guns as greater than being caught in the street without one.” Alvin Bragg (the Manhattan District Attorney) expressed the same concern before he was elected.
“We need to recognize that not every person charged with possessing an illegal gun in New York City is a driver of violence,” Bragg said on his campaign website. He said that his father had an illegal firearm not out of a love for guns, or to be ‘dangerous.’ But he did have a gun due to crime in the area.
Bragg has now changed her stance to follow Adams’ call for vigorous prosecution of gun owners who have guns in their possession without government permission. Law enforcement agencies are not able to redeem their inability to ensure public safety by locking people who use the Constitution right to defend themselves.
© Copyright 2022 by Creators Syndicate Inc.