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Report gives boost to gun crime bill An analysis of violent crimes committed in 2006 gives Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas ammunition in his battle for "Crooks with Guns" legislation that would add prison time for ex-cons who use firearms to commit new felonies. That nationwide study examines violent crime during the last two years and shows spikes in murders, robberies, felony assaults and attacks with guns. If passed, the "Crooks with Guns" bill, introduced in the Senate by Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and in the House by Rep. John DeBerry (D-Memphis), would tack a mandatory 10 years onto the sentences of previously convicted felons who use firearms to commit new crimes. For example, if an ex-con got five years for his new crime, he'd be locked up for 15, according to Norris, who calls the measure "a heavy hammer" in the fight against gun crimes. "This is exactly the laser approach to fighting violent crime," said Serpas, who helped fashion the bill's contents along with other members of the statewide Public Safety Coalition of police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys. He says putting multiple offenders squarely in the bill's sights supports his view that it's time to "get them off the streets and put them in prison." "I think what we're beginning to see in Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville — in the last year or so there have been such terrible examples of repeat offenders with guns free to commit crimes when they should be in prison," the chief said. Report is due Friday Local defense attorney Ed Yarbrough admits that "from the viewpoint of a citizen, it is a good deterrent for the use of firearms by convicted people." But he adds that a similar federal law already exists. "It seems to me that if federal law already prohibits felons from possessing a firearm, why wait until they commit a crime?" The national report to be released today by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank, shows such jarring statistics as a 10 percent jump in murders among the 56 cities examined. FBI data similarly has shown an increase in violent crime, if not as dramatic, since 2004. The Justice Department says crime was historically low that year. Norris, Senate sponsor of the "Crooks with Guns" bill, said the national study reinforces the need for his legislation. "Crimes involving guns, murders, robberies and aggravated assault here in Tennessee over a three-year period, 2003-05 shows murders up 10 percent, robberies 5 percent and aggravated assaults by 8 percent," he says, citing information provided by the Public Safety Coalition in their push for him to sponsor the bill. He says those statistics show a 7 percent increase in crimes involving guns. Norris says the national study and state statistics show it is time for "some commonsense measures to crack down on violent crime." "My hunch is that the word is out among the criminals and gangsters that it doesn't really matter what kind of crime you commit or how violent it is, whether you use a gun or some other weapon, you aren't really going to be punished under current law," the senator said. If this bill becomes law, it will show "this will not be tolerated." Shootings on the rise The most recent Metro statistics show decreases in overall crime, including homicides, but robberies and shootings have increased every year since 2003 and both rose more than 4 percent again last year. Nashville was among the 56 metropolitan cities surveyed. The forum's study found: • Forty of the 56 surveyed police departments, or 71 percent, saw homicide rates increase over the two-year period. That translated into an overall 10.2 percent jump in murders. Between 2005 and 2006, the increase in murders was much lower: 2.8 percent. • Robberies rose among the cities by 6 percent since 2005 and 12 percent since 2004. • Felony robberies dipped slightly, by 2 percent, between 2005 and 2006, but rose slightly, by 3 percent, since 2004. • Gun assaults saw a 1 percent boost from 2005 but spiked by nearly 10 percent during the two-year period. |
