The United States Department of Justice and United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced today that federal firearms prosecutions had increased by 68 percent between 2000 and 2003.  In Fiscal Year 2003, the Justice Department filed over 10,500 federal firearms cases nationwide, the highest number ever recorded by the Department.  The number of defendants charged with federal gun crimes rose from approximately 10,600 to over 13,000 from 2002 to 2003, a record increase of almost 23 percent.  These figures are the highest on record in a single year since the Department began recording this information. 

These increased figures for gun prosecutions are part of the Justice Department's nationwide effort known as Project Safe Neighborhoods.  In the Northern District of California, gun prosecutions have increased 30% percent since 2002.  This increase can be directly attributed to the aggressive investigation and prosecution of armed convicted felons by our federal and local partners.

Project Safe Neighborhoods, also known as PSN, is President Bush's comprehensive initiative to combat gun crime in America by providing locally-based programs with the tools and resources they need to succeed.   PSN involves more than the prosecution of gun cases.  In addition to the federal prosecutions, PSN provides community funds for programs to increase and promote literacy, sports, after school education, boys and girls clubs, camps and truancy programs.   Altogether, the federal government has designated  $1.3 million in the Northern District of California through the PSN program for this fiscal year followed by an additional $1.1 million for next year.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan was one of many U.S. Attorneys from around the country to meet with Attorney General John Ashcroft and others at a national PSN conference in Kansas City dedicated to refining and expanding the scope of the PSN program.  

"Through Project Safe Neighborhood's unprecedented partnership of state, local and federal leaders, we are turning the tide on gun crime," said Attorney General John Ashcroft.  "We are taking gun-wielding criminals off our streets.  The last three years represent a record of great success, but working together, we can do even more to make our neighborhoods safe."

"Removing armed convicted felons from our communities has had an impact on the safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods and we will continue to intensify our efforts through our established state and local law enforcement partnerships aimed at fighting violent crime," said United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan.

One of the distinctive features of the PSN program on the gun prosecution front is the cooperative effort of law enforcement at all levels to ensure that gun crimes are brought to court in the most appropriate jurisdiction.  In this district, for example, representatives of the San Francisco Police Department, Oakland Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Marshal's Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation have dedicated officers and agents to focus exclusively on the prosecution of gun violence and gun possession.   These partnerships are actively participating in San Francisco's Operation Cease Fire program and Oakland's Homicide Task Force.

In addition to using the strength of federal, state and local alliances to combat gun violence, the Northern District of California's Project Safe Neighborhoods team has sought creative ways to pursue challenging cases with the use of DNA evidence.  This office is the first to use DNA evidence for firearms violations.  In two recent cases, the United States Attorney's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the San Francisco Police department have taken samples of DNA from handguns that were recovered from an area where officers had pursued fleeing suspects, and then scientifically compared the samples to DNA samples taken from the suspects pursuant to federal search warrants.  In both cases, there were positive matches.  This innovative practice of using DNA has led to the successful prosecutions of defendants who would ordinarily not be prosecuted for lack of proof and the opening of similar investigations. 

Nationwide, in 2003, nearly all–93 percent–of convicted defendants who were originally charged with federal firearms offenses, were sentenced to some time in prison for convictions on firearms charges or other charges, and 72 percent  were sentenced to more than three years in prison, and over half of all defendants convicted were sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.