Coalition of Police Chiefs Urge Lawmakers to Toughen Gun Laws
The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, a coalition of nine national law enforcement leadership organizations, discussed gun violence occurring across the U.S. at a press conference during the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) at Chicago’s McCormick Place this week.
The group, which consisted of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, Baltimore County (MD) police chief Jim Johnson, Gregory A. Thomas, President, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), and Chuck Wexler, the Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), had one message for those assembled…focus the blame on Congress, not them.
The group expressed their urgency for Washington, D.C. lawmakers to keep guns out of the hands of those intending on harming themselves or others.McCarthy, the host chief of the conference, stated during the press conference that Chicago has taken more guns off the street than New York City and Los Angeles combined.
“The common denominator from Chicago to Charlotte is that guns are getting in the hands of the wrong people and lives are being erased, all because of easy access to people intent on doing harm,” McCarthy said.
Johnson, Baltimore’s police chief, echoed Mc Carthy sentiments.
“America is in crisis because of gun violence. The longer we wait, the more people die,” Johnson said. “We’ve been rocked coast-to-coast from Charleston, South Carolina to Roseburg, Oregon. We keep seeing incident after incident unfold – from mass shootings to those that occur in our communities. This madness cannot continue. Enough is enough.”
Johnson went on to cite statistics from the Bureau of Justice that states that over 466,000 people were victims of crimes involving guns in 2014. That’s up 40 percent from the previous year.
Thomas, president of NOBLE, stated that the guns used in the recent police shootings in New York, were traced back to purchases made in Georgia, a state with lax guns laws.
“Guns know no borders. Dangerous criminals are buying guns in states where they can evade backgrounds checks and transporting them to states with tougher background check laws. We need states to do more and we need national policies that tighten up gun purchasing laws,” Thomas said.“In my hometown of New York City, just last week Randolph Holder, another brave police officer was shot and killed.”
For more information on the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, log on to www.lepartnership.org.
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