FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Office of Public Affairs
February 21, 1999 (202) 622-2960
TREASURY RELEASES LATEST CRIME GUN TRACES
The Treasury Department announced Sunday the latest results of President Clinton’s Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII), a program which has traced over 76,000 guns used in crime in 27 cities and has led to the investigation and arrest of hundreds of illegal firearms traffickers supplying juveniles and criminals. And President Clinton announced his intention to expand the YCGII program to ten additional cities and has included $11.2 million to fund the expansion in the Administration’s budget request.
YCGII, a collaborative program among Treasury’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), state and local law enforcement and prosecutors, was initiated by President Clinton in a July 8, 1996, directive to Secretary Robert E. Rubin and Attorney General Janet Reno to establish a program to identify and reduce the illegal supply of firearms to juveniles. YCGII was developed in response to the tripling of the juvenile firearms homicide rate from 1985-1994. While youth violence is declining nationally, it is still historically high.
"With more police on the streets and tougher gun laws on the books, crime has dropped to its lowest level in a generation," said President Clinton. "But, we must do more. Today’s report shows that tracing crime guns to their source and putting gun traffickers out of business for good will make our streets even safer."
The report confirms that over 25 percent of guns recovered by law enforcement in the 27 cities are moving rapidly from retail sale to point of recovery by law enforcement. ATF investigative experience shows that such fast "time to crime" guns are likely to have been trafficked.
"The Brady Law has been successful in stopping felons from buying handguns at the point of retail purchase," said Secretary Rubin. "This program is successfully focusing attention on illegal gun markets operating through the back door."
A complementary report sent to Congress last week, "YCGII Performance Report," summarizes findings from 648 illegal firearms trafficking investigations nationwide involving juveniles and youth and nearly 27,000 firearms. ATF investigations confirm that new, used and stolen firearms are being trafficked.
ATF investigations show that there are many illegal trafficking sources. They include straw purchasing rings, individual straw purchasers, trafficking in stolen firearms, trafficking by licensed federally licensed firearms dealers and unregulated private sellers at gun shows and elsewhere.
"Through this program, we have been able to provide law enforcement with new tools to identify, investigate and incarcerate the criminal behind the criminal -- the illegal gun trafficker," said Under Secretary for Enforcement James E. Johnson.
Other findings of the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative report and the Performance Report include:
The 27 cities included in the YCGII report are Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Bridgeport (CT), Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, Houston, Inglewood (CA), Jersey City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Salinas (CA), San Antonio, St. Louis, Seattle, Tucson and Washington, D.C.
The new cities announced by the President are Charlotte, Dallas, Denver/Aurora, Louisville, New Orleans, Oakland, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland and Tampa. The Administration’s total Fiscal Year 2000 budget request for the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative is $45.2 million for additional ATF agents and tracing resources.
The report on the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative and accompanying Performance Report are available through Treasury’s Office of Public Affairs (202) 622-2960 or via the Internet at www.atf.treas.gov after 1:30 p.m. EST Sunday, February 20.
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