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(WASHINGTON, DC) -- When Handgun Control, Inc., the anti-firearms rights lobby group, releases its annual "Back to School" report to praise states that restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners and denigrate those states that allow lawful citizens that right, the news media and all Americans should remember what HCI^s report ignores -- that virtually none of the federal gun laws already on the books are enforced by the Clinton-Gore Administration. "This sham of a report card completely ignores the real problem -- that our current tough laws are not being enforced against violent felons with guns, felons attempting to buy guns, drug dealers carrying guns and violent juveniles taking guns to schools," said James J. Baker, executive director of NRA^s Institute for Legislative Action. "This is just Handgun Control, Inc.^s restatement of the obvious -- that they embrace restrictive gun control laws and bans on lawful ownership of firearms." Based on HCI^s faulty grading standards, Baker noted, the District of Columbia would be A-rated as a safe community for school children, in spite of the fact that Washington, D.C. ranks among the most violent cities in America every year. "They don^t even grade Washington, D.C., where lawful citizens cannot even own a firearm in their home, because based on their criteria, they^d have to give the city an A grade," Baker said. "Yet everyone who lives there knows that the streets, neighborhoods and schools are plagued by criminal violence because they fail to enforce the law and prosecute repeat, violent felons in the District of Columbia. All of HCI^s much-heralded, ineffective bans and restrictions don^t make a difference to criminals and cannot replace tough, unflinching enforcement, prosecution and incarceration of violent felons." Baker called on Sarah Brady, chairwoman of HCI, to join the NRA in lobbying Congress for $50 million for national implementation of Project Exile, a tough program that originated in Richmond, Virginia to prosecute violent felons with guns. "The anti-gun rights lobby says it favors prosecution, yet they^ve never publicly urged the White House or the Congress to adopt Project Exile, a program that has cut the murder rate in Richmond by more than 40 percent in two years," Baker said. "NRA has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into promoting this effective, life-saving program, but HCI has barely even given it lip service. Just this week, the NRA contributed $15,000 to support Project Exile in Virginia^s Hampton Roads community, bringing our level of direct contribution to this enforcement program at more than $300,000. The American people want the laws on the books enforced, and they want the rights of lawful citizens preserved. The NRA remains committed to those goals." Baker noted that even President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, both of whom have called for further restrictions on lawful firearms ownership, admit that none of their gun control proposals would have prevented recent, sensationalized tragedies. "They admit that their gun laws don^t work," Baker said. "California is home of some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, yet all those laws only apply to the law-abiding and couldn^t stop a released, deranged convicted felon from driving around Los Angeles with a trunk full of guns. But if the tough laws against felons in possession of firearms had been enforced, that tragedy could have been prevented. Enforcement is prevention, but Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and Sarah Brady apparently just don^t get it." Baker also pointed out that of the 6,000 cases reported by the U.S. Department of Education of juveniles bringing a gun to school over the last two years, there have been only 13 prosecutions nationwide. And during the last two years, only 11 criminals have been prosecuted nationwide for illegally transferring guns to juveniles. "Don^t tell law-abiding gun owners we need one more gun law, while the Clinton-Gore Administration has presided over a 47 percent decrease in prosecutions of federal gun crimes," Baker said. "And don^t tell me that one more gun law will save lives, when Richmond^s Project Exile proves that tough, unflinching enforcement of our current laws has saved hundreds of lives in that city."

Uploaded: 8/25/1999