Prepared Remarks of Attorney General

Alberto R. Gonzales at
ATF Headquarters Announcing
Expanded Justice Department Efforts
and New Legislation to Combat Violent
Crime
Washington, D.C.
June 1, 2007
Thank you. I'm pleased to be here today to speak with you about the Department's
efforts—including yours—to make America's neighborhoods safe. And I'm also
pleased to be joined today by acting Director Sullivan and by United States
Marshals Service Director Clark.

President Bush and I are well aware that ATF plays a vital role in our efforts to
eradicate violent crime. I wanted to thank you for what you do every day, and to let
you know that you and your federal law enforcement counterparts will be an
important part of what we do going forward. And I want to talk a little about what
we've got planned along those lines.

Here in Washington we are surrounded by symbols of America and what makes this
country great. But America itself is to be found in our communities, in our
neighborhoods, and in our families. It is there that our children, and their dreams,
can be nurtured and allowed to grow.

And it is there, at the local level, that crime most directly threatens those dreams.
America cannot afford to be without the hopes of even a few of its children—we
must do all that we can to keep every one of them safe and protected. Every
neighborhood deserves to be a safe neighborhood.

As federal law enforcement, you are not the local first responders to this kind of
crime, but you have an important part in the fight nonetheless. Through the Violent
Crime Impact Team, or VCIT, initiative, ATF uses innovative technology, and an
integrated federal, state, and local strategy to identify, investigate, arrest and
prosecute the most violent criminals in the 25 cities where we have VCIT teams.
This program has been tremendously successful, thanks in part to the support of
your local law enforcement partners, and your federal partners in the DEA, FBI and
the Marshals Service -- and we're going to be expanding it to more cities soon.

One example of the success we've had with VCITs involves David Muska, who was
a chiropractor in East Windsor, Connecticut. He also collected guns. And he and his
wife were drug addicts.

The VCIT in Hartford learned that several guns recovered by police could be traced
back to the Muskas, and they launched an investigation. It turns out that for about a
year he and his wife had been purchasing, and then trading, firearms for cocaine
and heroin. In total, they trafficked 25 guns, and when they were arrested authorities
seized another 88 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Both husband and
wife pleaded guilty, and David Muska received a 101-month sentence – with no
prior record, for simply putting guns into the hands of criminals. That sends a very
strong message that those who put guns in the hands of those who should not have
them will face serious consequences.

I don't have to tell anyone here how dangerous that combination of guns and drugs
can be. I don't have to remind anyone here of the kind of threat the Muskas' actions
posed to the community and to law enforcement officers. By stopping this extensive
guns-for-drugs trade, ATF and our local partners were able to dry up a significant
source of illegal firearms in that area. They made neighborhoods safer, and we are
going to build on success stories like this one.

Now, we know that, overall, national crime rates by historical standards are at very
low levels. However, as we anticipated recent data show slight increases in the
number of violent crimes in 2005 and 2006.

In general, it doesn't appear that the current data reveal nationwide trends. Rather,
they show local increases in certain communities. Each community is facing
different circumstances – and in many places, violent crime continues to decrease.

But that doesn’t change how the families who live in those more-violent areas feel,
and the daily challenges they must face.

In those neighborhoods, mothers fear for their children.

In those communities, gang members fight for domination.

And on those streets, sometimes even the innocent – bystanders to neighborhood

violence – lose their lives.

We know that community-specific problems cannot successfully be tackled

nationally or unilaterally because crime issues vary from city to city, and even
between neighborhoods in a single city. Recently, at my direction, Department of
Justice officials visited 18 metropolitan areas across the country to talk with state
and local law enforcement and others in the community.

Some of those places had experienced increases in crime, others had seen decreases.
And in our conversations we heard again and again that no one answer, no one
approach, no one government agency can solve the violent crime problems these
communities face.

Each city’s solutions must be tailored to its particular situation, and in many
jurisdictions we visited, local law enforcement is already employing creative
solutions tailored to their city’s particular needs. To best address the varied crime
challenges faced by communities around the nation, the way forward is at once
simple and difficult, and it consists of local law enforcement working with
community leaders to develop solutions that best suit their needs.

At the Department of Justice, we want to partner with these communities and help
in those efforts.

Although the federal government does not bear the primary burden in fighting local
crime, we do have some specialized expertise and resources that can assist local
law-enforcement officials who do.

We can offer the extra weight of federal prosecution when appropriate, and we
possess the means to collect and disseminate best practices and training. Also, we
can provide pretrial detention for felons who illegally possess firearms and,
generally, longer prison terms without parole.

For example, VCITs focus on hot spots of violent activity and work to ensure that
violent criminals are arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated so that they can no longer
terrorize the communities where they operate.

More than 2,000 gang members, drug dealers, felons in possession of firearms and
other criminals were arrested on local, state or federal charges through the VCIT
initiative in 2006. These are dangerous people like David Muska, who put entire
communities at risk. To keep this success going, we're expanding the program to
include four additional cities.

They are: Orlando, Florida; Mesa, Arizona; San Bernardino, California; and San
Juan, Puerto Rico.

Each of these cities has seen an unacceptable increase in homicides or other violent
crimes. And authorities in each have come forward and asked for our help. The new
VCITs in these cities will use our proven model and work with the local experts to
target the kinds of crime and the unique circumstances that have led to these
increases.

And we're also expanding the ATF's "Don’t Lie for the Other Guy" program,
developed in partnership with the National Shooting Sports Foundation. This
program aims to educate federal firearms licensees on how to detect and deter
illegal "straw purchases," enhance our partnership with licensees to prevent these
purchases, and educate the public and licensees that engaging in straw purchases is
illegal under federal law.

Now, I want to acknowledge the good work being done not just by ATF, but also by
some of our other law enforcement components. The FBI’s Safe Streets Task
Forces, for example, focus on dismantling violent organized gangs that wreak havoc
in cities and towns across the country, as well as investigating violent criminals
involved in federal robberies, carjackings, murders and kidnappings.

We will be adding a Safe Streets Task Force in Orlando, to further aid local law
enforcement in fighting their gang problem there. This task force will work closely
with the new VCIT in Orlando, in keeping with the Department's continued
commitment to coordination and cooperation between all federal law enforcement
agencies operating in the same geographical areas.

We've had great success in doing this with the U.S. Marshals' fugitive sweeps called
Operation FALCON. Through three campaigns, FALCON targeted the worst of the
worst, and resulted in the arrests of more than 30,000 fugitive felons.

It is a great example of what we can achieve when all the branches of law
enforcement are working together as a national network, and I know Director Clark
and Director Sullivan are as dedicated as I am to doing more of these joint
operations in the future.

Law enforcement coordination is critical to addressing violent crime and remains a

keystone of the Department's anti-crime efforts. FBI Director Mueller and DEA
Director Tandy have made coordination on investigations a priority as well, because
they have seen how effective we can be together.

To ensure that our violent crime task forces operate seamlessly and leverage the
best that each agency has to offer, the Deputy Attorney General recently directed all
components to utilize information-sharing and case-coordination systems, where
available and effective, in their investigations. Earlier this month, he also directed
all U.S. Attorneys to convene meetings with representatives from the task forces in
their districts to address and resolve any coordination issues. These steps will
enhance our violent crime reduction efforts and ensure that our task forces work
together to make our communities safer.

And as an important step in making sure that we have the tools needed to get the
job done, we are sending to Congress comprehensive crime legislation. I don't want
to go too far into the details, but I want to share with you a few of the important
elements of this bill.
First, it will improve a number of existing criminal laws to close gaps and
strengthen the penalties and tools we have already. That means extending the statute
of limitations for violent crimes and establishing enhanced penalties for violent
crimes committed by illegal aliens.

Second, the bill would provide greater flexibility in the penalties that could be
imposed on federal firearm licensees who violate the Gun Control Act. By allowing
for graduated sanctions, this would permit ATF to more effectively pursue a wider
range of violations, and provide greater incentives for licensees to cooperate with
law enforcement.

And third, the legislation would restore the binding nature of the sentencing
guidelines so that the bottom of the recommended sentencing range would be a
minimum for judges, not merely a suggestion.

Again, there are many more important provisions in this legislation, and I look
forward to working with Congress to enact provisions like these that will strengthen
our hand in fighting criminals who threaten the safety and security of all Americans.

It can truly be said that our efforts at fighting violent crime are all about
cooperation. I know that every one of us in this room is dedicated to stopping
crime. But I also know that no matter how hard we work, how many hours we put
in, how far we push ourselves, no one person here can do it alone.

You rely on your colleagues — the men and women sitting next to you. You rely on
your federal law enforcement partners -- who are dedicated just as you are to this
mission. And you rely on your state and local counterparts -- the boots on the
ground in these communities.

Our fight against violent crime is important to me too. And I rely on every one of
you.

I know that I have only 18 months left in my term as Attorney General, and that
really does not feel like a lot of time to accomplish all of the goals that are
important to me. So often Washington seems to run at a marathon pace, but I intend
to spend the next year and a half in a sprint to the finish line. The American people
deserve nothing less, and I'm counting on all of you, at ATF and in all of federal law
enforcement, to join me in that.

I'm grateful for all that you have done, and I'm proud to serve alongside you. When
we fight together, we cannot fail. Keep up the good work.

###