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Marty on the Issues |
Marty on Public Safety
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee's Crime Subcommittee, Congressman Marty Meehan has brought his experience as a prosecutor to bear on anti-crime policy. His philosophy is straightforward -- crime-fighting efforts must be comprehensive to succeed. Accordingly, Marty has fought for tougher punishment for violent career offenders, increased federal funding for law enforcement, the expansion of prevention programs proven to steer young people clear of the criminal justice system, and a full-scale war on the illegal gun market. Marty served as First Assistant District Attorney of Massachusetts' Middlesex County prior to his election to Congress in 1992. Upon joining Congress, he worked with the Clinton Administration and public interest groups such as Handgun Control Inc. to secure the enactment of historic anti-crime legislation, including the 1993 Brady Bill and the 1994 Crime Bill. Indeed, during Marty's tenure in Congress, serious violent crime in America has decreased substantially. The murder rate is down more than 25 percent to its lowest point since 1967, and gun violence has declined by more than 35 percent. A strong supporter of President Clinton's community policing initiatives, Marty has worked closely with police departments throughout Massachusetts' Fifth Congressional District to secure federal funding for efforts to put more cops on the beat. His strong advocacy for community policing funds has resulted in a federal investment to deploy more than 315 additional police officers to patrol the streets of the Fifth District. Furthermore, Marty has welcomed U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program Director Thomas Frazier to Lawrence and Lowell to see first-hand how federal dollars have been put to work in those communities to fight crime. While Marty is pleased with the successes of the past five years, he knows that Congress' anti-crime work is far from finished. In particular, Marty strongly supports the enactment of additional common-sense gun safety measures, aimed at keeping deadly firearms out of the hands of felons, fugitives, stalkers, and children. These measures include raising the minimum age required to purchase a handgun from 18 to 21, prohibiting the purchase of firearms at gun shows without a background check, banning juvenile possession of semiautomatic assault rifles, and requiring child safety locks for all handguns. Marty himself has introduced legislation (H.R. 4915) to require that handgun purchasers be licensed and records of handgun sales be forwarded to law enforcement authorities. His legislation is supported by Handgun Control, the Million Moms March, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Furthermore, through his amendments to the fiscal year 1998 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill and 1999 juvenile crime legislation, Marty secured the authorization of $50 million to aid the expansion of President Clinton's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative. Based on the heralded Boston Gun Project, the initiative calls for local law enforcement officials to work with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to trace all firearms recovered from juveniles. Marty is also an original co-sponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would permit federal law enforcement authorities in certain circumstances to investigate and prosecute violent crimes motivated by the race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim.
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