| Jump Seen in Federal Weapons Prosecutions |
| (10 Jun 2013)
The latest available data from the Justice Department reveal a substantial jump in federal weapons prosecutions during March and April 2013.
For the first two months of this calendar year these counts had hovered around 500, down from the average level of 648 during the last fiscal year. But in March they rebounded to 673 prosecutions -- up 30.7 percent. In April they rose another 3.6 percent to 697.
Questions about the intensity of weapons enforcement have long been an issue in the national debate over proposals to strengthen federal gun laws. So far in FY 2013, the Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranks first in the country in terms of its rate of federal weapons prosecutions, with the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) in second place. In terms of the sheer numbers rather than rates, the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) has prosecuted the highest number in the nation. For more details, including other districts among the top ten most active, see the report at: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/322/In addition to reports on weapons trends, TRAC continues to offer free reports on program categories such as immigration, drugs, white collar crime and terrorism. TRAC's reports also monitor the enforcement activities of selected government agencies such as ATF, DHS, the FBI and the IRS. For the latest information on prosecutions and convictions through April 2013, go to: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/Even more detailed criminal enforcement information for the period from FY 1986 through April 2013 is available to TRACFed subscribers via the Express and Going Deeper tools. Go to http://tracfed.syr.edu for more information. Customized reports for a specific agency, district, program, lead charge or judge are available via the TRAC Data Interpreter, either as part of a TRACFed subscription or on a per-report basis. Go to http://trac.syr.edu/interpreter to start. To keep up with TRAC, follow us on Twitter @tracreports or like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/tracreportsTRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC's ongoing efforts, go to: http://trac.syr.edu/sponsor/ |
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