This feature appears in the July ‘17 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ pledge to enforce federal laws dealing with criminal acquisition, possession and use of firearms, and his equal commitment to vigorously pursue prosecutions for drug-trafficking offenses, is meeting with truly insane resistance—especially in the media.
Clearly, prosecution of individual armed thugs who are terrorizing inner-city residents in urban centers, like Chicago, would bring peace to now-terrorized neighborhoods. And clearly, the unchecked hard-drug epidemic is the engine that drives much of the violence.
But—especially to the gun ban crowd—swift, sure and just enforcement of existing federal laws would totally negate their demands for new pointless gun control that only ensnares law-abiding citizens. Existing federal criminal law covers every conceivable aspect of criminal acquisition, possession and use of firearms.
The truth is that without the continued bloodletting, these political ghouls would be without a cause. They need it. They feed on it.
The media and politicians’ resistance to the Trump administration’s promise of sure prosecution for violent criminals is truly pathological.The media and politicians’ resistance to the Trump administration’s promise of sure prosecution for violent criminals is truly pathological.
Among the most telling examples of that insanity came in a May 12, 2017, Associated Press dispatch headlined in The New York Times: “Attorney General Sparks Fear with Push for Harsh Sentences.”
If you were to read only the headline, a normal person would conclude that the “fear” it refers to would be struck in the hearts of criminals. Not so.
That’s not what the story is about.
It begins with a quote from a Georgetown University law professor whining about how going to prison ruins the lives of convicted criminals. He referred to their crimes as “making a mistake.” What about the ruined lives of their victims?
Excuse me? Shooting someone. Robbing someone. Assaulting someone. Killing someone. Selling drugs. Illegally possessing and using firearms in the commission of violence. Those are not “mistakes.” They are crimes—serious federal felonies that should be prosecuted.
The story continues: “The announcement is an unmistakable undoing of Obama administration criminal justice policies that aimed to ease overcrowding in federal prisons and contributed to a national rethinking of how … criminals were prosecuted and sentenced.
“Sessions contends a spike in violence in some big cities and the nation’s opioid epidemic show the need for a return to tougher tactics.”
Think that’s bad? It gets crazier.
The story refers to Sessions’ policy memo instructing federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.” The AP warned that such an order is “something more likely to trigger mandatory minimum sentences.”
That’s why Congress passed those laws. They were not intended to be ignored.
The truth is that mere possession of a firearm by any of a host of “prohibited persons”—such as convicted violent felons, gang members and criminals in the drug trade—calls for a five-year mandatory prison sentence.
Under the Obama regime, Chicago has been the jurisdiction with the worst record of federal prosecutions of violent armed criminals in the nation.That should have been bad news for violent criminals. But we are talking about the former Obama Justice Department’s abysmal record of prosecution.
The AP story gets even more appalling: “The directive rescinds guidance by Sessions’ Democratic predecessor, Eric Holder … who called the reversal ‘dumb on crime,’ saying it would be ‘financially ruinous’ for the department to focus its spending on incarceration rather than preventing and investigating crime.”
What is the point of “investigating crime” if it’s not for the purpose of prosecution—of removing criminals from the society they prey upon?
In our book, the only way to “prevent crime” is to provide swift and sure punishment for individual criminals. When violent criminals are in prison, they are indeed “prevented” from future predations and violence against innocent victims in the community.
Clearly, that kind of real “prevention” is unacceptable to the gun ban crowd.
And this gets us to Chicago, a city with the shameful title of the murder capital of the nation, in terms of number of homicides.
In fact, this headline in the April 21, 2017, issue of the Chicago Tribune shows where the Windy City is headed without the proper application of federal law: “Grim milestone: Chicago tops 1,000 shootings weeks earlier than recent years.”
Last year, according to Chicago police, criminals racked up 762 murders and 3,550 shootings, with 4,331 shooting victims.
It is obscenely unacceptable, because had the Obama Justice Department done what Sessions has pledged to do, many of those people would never have become victims.
Under the Obama regime, Chicago has been the jurisdiction with the worst record of federal prosecutions of violent armed criminals in the nation.
If you are seeking a reason for all of this, look no further than the fact that Chicago is being ruled by a morally corrupt machine—one that is headed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who would rather push his phony gun control agenda than use federal prosecution to actually curb the bloodletting on his streets.
That agenda includes Emanuel’s demand that all federally licensed and stringently regulated firearm dealers in the state pay the price for Chicago’s staggering violence. In pushing for new draconian gun controls on law-abiding dealers, Emanuel characterizes federal firearm law as being “weak.”
Emanuel knows better. When he served in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was among the more aggressive gun ban congressmen. As the gun ban architect in Bill Clinton’s White House, he was largely responsible for creation of Clinton’s semi-automatic ban. And as chief of staff to President Barack Obama, Emanuel was at the forefront of crafting Obama’s endless anti-Second Amendment agenda.
If anything, Emanuel knows the federal law inside and out. And that’s what makes his phony, studied ignorance so deeply evil.
He is sacrificing the safety of innocent Chicago residents for his sleazy personal political ambition.
If Sessions is successful in redirecting the resources of the U.S. Department of Justice to take armed criminals off the street before they kill, the beleaguered residents of Chicago will understand the truth about their mayor. And America will know the truth about all of the gun banners.
But to be successful in this effort, Jeff Sessions needs your individual support. Let your members of Congress know that you expect them to stand behind his law enforcement effort to get criminals off the streets. You will be saving lives.
