#triggerlock

[machinistphanpack]

Holy armaments Batman!!! Thank you so so much to my pals @rainierarms for supplying me with this cornucopia of awesomeness. Seriously it's a plethora of Kickassness. I mean copious amount of, Are You For Real? #machinestphanpack #rainierarms #2ndamendment #gunrights #gunrightsarewomensrights #protectwhatsyours #selfdefense #fanpacksuccess #patch #30roundmag #koozie #stickercollection #triggerlock #gunsafteyfirst #gunpowdersoap #cmctriggers #mountainpew #pewpew #triggersafe #fanpacks #stickerlife #thankyou #threeamigos #pletora #quitedoyousmellsomething (at Manchester, Maryland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFBa1R5p29O/?igshid=15ooyvdygl3qt

[thegeekgrotto]

today was a first. A customer lost the keys to his trigger lock. My picking skills have suffered from lack of practice, but the rotary pick did the job...also, it's a good thing my finger prints are on file with Hillsborough County on a Locksmith License...told the guy he couldn't pin any murder charges on me if he intended on doing so 😂#locksmith #triggerlock #tampa #ruger #revolver

[racketnews]

AG BARR ANNOUNCES PROJECT GUARDIAN TO PREVENT UNAPPROVED GUN PURCHASES

U.S. Attorney General William Barr was in Memphis last Wednesday to announce the launch of a new federal gun control program, Project Guardian. The AG promises to enforce federal gun regulations “with a vengeance.” As President Trump is facing mostly manufactured charges of committing impeachable offenses, his attorney general is committing actual offenses against the Constitution, namely infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, as protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “I have long believed that the first duty of government is to protect the safety of our citizens,” Barr told the press gathered to cover the kick-off of the gun buying crackdown. Actually, Mr. Barr, the federal government was NOT given the power by the states to protect the citizens of those states. The scope of federal authority was very succinctly explained by James Madison in Federalist 45: The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. Notice that among the “few” powers granted by the states to its agent, the federal government, you will not find the power to disarm civilians. In fact, the Second Amendment to the Constitution explicitly forbids the federal government from trespassing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Consider this: If the federal government is going to prosecute “with a vengeance” its plan to prevent the purchase of firearms by those it considers unsafe, is that not tacit admission that the government fears an armed populace? When one takes into account that many of those being denied the right to purchase firearms and ammunition are veterans, it makes sense that a tyrannical federal government would want to take the weapons out of the hands of those who have experience wielding them in battle, no? Attorney General Barr is undaunted, though, in his zealous pursuit of a country where certain civilians must obtain permission of the federal government to own weapons. Referring to a gun control measure he oversaw in the early 1990s, Barr described Project Guardian as an expansion of that early effort — Project Triggerlock. http://dlvr.it/RJx11s

[douglasacogan]

Ironies abound as Deputy AG complains about "whole categories of drug crimes ... being ignored and not enforced" by prosecutors

I just had some time today to review this notable speech delivered this past Friday by Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the Wake Forest School of Law.  As always, I recommend the speech in full because there is too much in the DAG's remarks for me to reprint and engage them all here.  But, as I read though the speech's laments about the failure to enforce drug laws, I could not help but wonder if the DAG gave any thought to DOJ's own persistent disinclination to prosecute the many thousands of (federally illegal) recreational marijuana businesses that operate openly in nearly a dozen US states.  This thought was among the many ironies I saw as DAG Rosen in this speech praises federal crime fighting efforts while criticizing the work of some local prosecutors. Here are some extended excerpts followed by a bit more commentary:

At the Department of Justice, reducing violent crime is one of our top priorities....  So let me start this discussion about violent crime with this simple observation: To understand what works in combating crime, one need look no further than the highly successful efforts of state and federal law enforcement over recent decades.  In the early 1990s, crime reached an all-time high.  Violent crime and murder rates in particular had steadily increased over the preceding decades. Many major American cities and communities were not safe places to live or work.

In response to this troubling trend, legislatures increased penalties for gun offenders, prosecutors pursued stiff penalties for violent criminals, and the Department of Justice did its part by launching a series of nationwide initiatives to stem the tide of rising crime.  For instance, in 1991, the Department created Project Triggerlock, a highly successful program that vigorously pursued firearms cases by targeting the most-violent offenders.  A decade later, the Department launched Project Safe Neighborhoods or “PSN.”  As a crime reduction strategy, PSN focuses federal and state resources on the most pressing violent crime problems in our communities, and each district develops comprehensive solutions to address them....

After reaching a peak around 1993, crime steadily declined for the next 20-plus years.  Violent crime was cut in half.  A study published in 2009 concluded that PSN successfully reduced violent crime with case studies showing reductions as high as 42 percent in certain locations.

Unfortunately, after decades of improvement, a reversal took place, with stunning increases in violent crime in 2015 and 2016.  Homicides alone increased by more than 20 percent.  Concerned that we were at risk of losing ground, the incoming Trump Administration and the Justice Department snapped into action and returned to tried-and-true strategies for reducing crime.

In his first month in office, President Trump issued a series of executive orders “designed to restore safety in America.”  In response, the Attorney General announced the reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhood as a centerpiece of the Administration’s strategy to reduce violent crime.  In October 2017, Attorney General Sessions directed all 93 U.S. Attorneys to implement enhanced violent-crime reduction programs and to reinvigorate partnerships with state, local, and tribal law enforcement.... Since redoubling our efforts in this way, we have increased federal firearm prosecutions by over 40 percent compared to the last two years of the previous administration. The joint state-and-federal efforts have worked, and the objective statistics prove it.

The FBI recently released its annual crime statistics for 2018, and, for the second consecutive year, the number of violent crimes decreased nationwide.  In 2018, the violent crime rate decreased 3.9 percent from 2017, and the rate for nearly every type of violent crime decreased as well....

Unfortunately, a dangerous trend is emerging that threatens to blunt the progress we’ve made in reducing crime.  Despite the obvious successes, a small but increasing number of state and local district attorneys have vowed not to enforce entire categories of core criminal offenses as part of a misguided experiment in social justice reform.  From Philadelphia in the East to Dallas in the middle and Seattle in the West, a curtain of non-enforcement policies has descended on some unfortunate cities and counties.

It’s a problem Attorney General Barr highlighted in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police in August.  There, he spoke of “the emergence in some of our large cities of District Attorneys that style themselves as ‘social justice’ reformers, who spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook, and refusing to enforce the law.”

The radical decriminalization policies these social-reform DAs have publicly announced and implemented are truly shocking when they are made transparent.  Despite a decade of record-level drug overdose fatalities, whole categories of drug crimes, including several distribution offenses, are being ignored and not enforced.  Likewise, criminals who commit theft below certain thresholds, such as below $500, are given a free pass.  In several jurisdictions, reform DAs have effectively decriminalized prostitution, making it more difficult to fight human trafficking.  If those weren’t surprising enough, social-reform DAs have announced that the categories of malicious destruction of property, and shoplifting, will go unprosecuted.  The same with regard to criminal threats.  Even offenders who resist arrest and assault law enforcement officials are skating prosecution under these DAs’ non-enforcement policies.

At the Justice Department, we emphasize working closely with our state and local law enforcement colleagues.  But I am concerned that these social reform DAs are falling down on the job.  A prosecutor’s duty is straightforward — enforce the law fairly and impartially and keep the public safe.  By refusing to prosecute basic offenses, social reform DAs are failing to fulfill that vital obligation.  No society can have justice when stealing has been effectively licensed, open-air drug markets are allowed to flourish, and neither victim nor police officer trust that those who break the law will be held accountable....

Not only will these non-prosecution strategies inevitably make communities less safe, they also undermine our constitutional system of separation of powers.  It doesn’t take a law degree from a fine institution like Wake Forest to understand the principle that the legislative branch writes the law; the judicial branch interprets the law; and the executive branch enforces the law. District attorneys, of course, are part of the executive branch, responsible for enforcing the law. By refusing to prosecute broad swaths of core criminal offenses, social-reform DAs are ignoring duly-enacted laws in favor of their own personal notions of what they think the law should be....

Now, with regard to these DA’s personal policy preferences, let me turn briefly to the issue of prosecutorial discretion. There is no question that prosecutors have discretion to decide what cases to prosecute and how to spend their limited resources.  But these DAs are not making individualized decisions based on the facts and circumstances of particular cases. They are predetermining whole categories of offenses for non-enforcement.  They are effectively legislating through inaction.  And the offenses they are unilaterally striking from the books are not antiquated or rare; they are basic criminal laws directed at maintaining public safety.  These DAs’ decriminalization strategies go far beyond prosecutorial discretion and fly in the face of the fundamental concept that no one part of the government exercises total control of our legal system. If you believe in the rule of law, that is a problem....

Some have argued that recent criminal justice reform legislation like the First Step Act represents a repudiation of historical law enforcement practices.  Not so. There was wide bi-partisan support for the First Step Act.  Among other things, that legislation focuses on reducing recidivism, to help prevent future crimes. The Department of Justice and our Bureau of Prisons have made implementing that legislation a priority, as Attorney General Barr and I have both emphasized.

Let me give you a few illustrations: In addition to sentence reductions that have resulted in the release of more than 4,700 inmates, we have updated policies for inmates to obtain “compassionate release,” and since the Act was signed into law, 107 inmates have received compassionate release, compared to 34 in 2018.  We launched a pilot program that has allowed over 260 elderly or terminally-ill inmates to transition to home confinement.  We have further individualized drug-treatment plans, so about 16,000 inmates are now enrolled in recovery programs.  And to reduce recidivism, we are advancing re-entry programming to help past offenders find work and relaunch their lives.

But here is the key point about these improvements from the First Step Act: It is only because of the success of the law enforcement approaches of the last several decades that we had the opportunity to consider and implement these improvements to the criminal justice system. And a key part of fighting crime and protecting victims is helping to make sure that when these prisoners are released — as many of them will be, after serving their sentences — we give them the best possible chance at not re-offending. It’s about public safety, plain and simple....

Finally, let me address one other aspect of the non-enforcement policy problem.  Some defenders of reform DAs claim that the non-prosecution strategies merely reflect the will of the communities that elected them.  If that were so, one wonders why those communities’ legislators would not simply change the laws to reflect their constituents’ views. Indeed, one reason greater transparency about these non-enforcement policies is warranted is that it is far from clear that the public knows and wants prosecutors to tolerate crimes like burglary and theft without enforcement.

Do you think Americans really want prosecutors who won’t enforce whole categories of laws?  It can be hard to overlook that some of these social reform DAs were elected in low-turnout primaries backed by unusual funding from out-of-state ideological advocates.  But elections are up to voters, so I do not mean to address any individual jurisdiction or any particular DA; my question is what kind of system will we have if our laws are simply to be ignored?  And I am especially focused on the problem that non-enforcement policies present to the goal of continuing to reduce violent crime and make our communities safer.

I find jarring that this speech starts with an emphasis on making the reduction of violent crime a priority and then assails local DAs for giving less attention to non-violent crimes. It seems deeply misguided to say in blanket terms that "non-prosecution strategies inevitably make communities less safe" when the non-prosecution policy involves, say, low-level marijuana offices.  Of course, the biggest irony here is that the federal government for the last decade has been pursuing various "non-prosecution strategies" with respect to state-compliant federal marijuana offenses.  Notably, the range of non-enforcement policies adopted by the feds have obviously not undermined "the goal of continuing to reduce violent crime and make our communities safer."  But apparently, in the view of DAG Rosen, what is good for the (essentially unelected) federal prosecutors in terms marijuana non-enforcement is no good for the (locally elected) state prosecutors.

Adding to the ironies here is DAG Rosen's praise and commitment to the FIRST STEP Act.  I am so very pleased to see DAG Rosen praise the reduction of thousands of federal sentences, the early releases to home confinement, the individualized drug-treatment plans, and other efforts to advance re-entry programming to help past offenders.  But I surmise that this work is in much harmony with what progressive prosecutors are committed to doing: finding alternatives to excessive prison terms, addressing public health problems like addiction outside the criminal justice system, and helping offenders "find work and relaunch their lives."  I also think progressive prosecutors would generally acknowledge that low crime rates help provide "the opportunity to consider and implement these improvements to the criminal justice system."  In other words, I believe progressive prosecutors are concerned about "public safety, plain and simple," but they reasonable believe that they can achieve that end without turning to law enforcement and the prison system to address every societal issue.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/11/ironies-abound-as-deputy-ag-complains-about-whole-categories-of-drug-crimes-being-ignored-and-not-en.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[douglasacogan]

In speech to police, Attorney General Barr promises proposal to speed up death penalty and ratchet up drug war while taking swipe at progressive prosecutors

Attorney General William Barr delivered these extended remarks on Monday at the Grand Lodge Fraternal Order of Police's 64th National Biennial Conference.  The AG's initial comments about the death of Jeffrey Epstein has received the most press coverage, but criminal justice reformers should be more interested in his comments on the death penalty, progressive prosecutors ad federal enforcement efforts. Here are excerpts:

This Administration will not tolerate violence against police, and we will do all we can to protect the safety of law enforcement officers. I will share with you one proposal that we will be advancing after Labor Day.  We will be proposing legislation providing that in cases of mass murder, or in cases of murder of a law enforcement officer, there will be a timetable for judicial proceedings that will allow imposition of any death sentence without undue delay.  Punishment must be swift and certain.

There is another development that is demoralizing to law enforcement and dangerous to public safety.  That is the emergence in some of our large cities of District Attorneys that style themselves as “social justice” reformers, who spend their time undercutting the police, letting criminals off the hook, and refusing to enforce the law.

These anti-law enforcement DAs have tended to emerge in jurisdictions where the election is largely determined by the primary.  Frequently, these candidates ambush an incumbent DA in the primary with misleading campaigns and large infusions of money from outside groups.

Once in office, they have been announcing their refusal to enforce broad swathes of the criminal law.  Most disturbing is that some are refusing to prosecute cases of resisting police. Some are refusing to prosecute various theft cases or drug cases, even where the suspect is involved in distribution.  And when they do deign to charge a criminal suspect, they are frequently seeking sentences that are pathetically lenient.  So these cities are headed back to the days of revolving door justice. The results will be predictable. More crime; more victims.

One of my messages today is that the American people need to pay close attention to issues of public safety in their communities.  As a society we should not take our police officers for granted....

Two of my highest priorities are continuing the fight against violent crime and combating the opioid epidemic and the scourge of other dangerous drugs, like resurging methamphetimine.

When I last served as Attorney General in the early 90’s, violent crime was at all-time high levels in the country.  Starting in the 1960’s, we had gone through three decades of “reform” that turned our criminal justice system into a laughable revolving door. Incarceration rates dropped precipitously; and crime rates tripled, reaching a high in 1991-92.

Starting with the Reagan Administration, and running though the Bush, Clinton, and Bush years, we strengthened our criminal justice systems at both the Federal and state level.  We focused on getting chronic violent offenders off the streets and into prisons to serve meaningful sentences that protected the community.  We worked closely with our State and local partners on programs like Weed & Seed and Triggerlock.

The result?  A steady and sharp drop in violent crime starting in 1992.  Today, violent crime has been cut in half.

Unfortunately, in the last few years of the Obama Administration, the violent crime rate started rising again.  Days after his inauguration, President Trump issued an Executive Order with two clear directives.  First, he declared that this Administration would reduce crime in America.  Second, he directed the Department of Justice to take the lead on Federal actions to support law enforcement efforts nationwide and to collaborate with State, tribal, and local jurisdictions to restore public safety to all of our communities.

We take this responsibility seriously and, working closely with our State and local partners, we have succeeded once again in driving crime rates back down.  I am proud of our work together on Project Safe Neighborhood, and a variety of joint anti-gang and anti-gun crime efforts.

We have made a difference, but we cannot rest on our laurels.  Crime levels are still too high and we must keep up a full court press. In the weeks ahead, we will be doubling down on our attack on violent crime.  We will be expanding our efforts against gun violence and violent gangs. Once again, we plan on doing this shoulder-to-shoulder with our State and local partners.

On the drug front, we are facing a monumental challenge. To be frank, the Obama Administration showed little interest in prosecuting the fight against dangerous drugs. A tsunami built up and has been crashing over the country, bringing death and destruction.

The death toll from opioids alone is higher than we would sustain in a major war. Indeed, in a single year, we lose more people to opioids than we lost during the entire Vietnam War.

Fortunately, this Administration has thrown down the gauntlet. It declared a national emergency, marshalled the Nation’s resources, and is fighting back. We have a robust program to attack the problem of over-prescription and diversion of legal opioids, and we are definitely having an impact. Prescription rates are markedly down. I am confident these successes will accelerate.

I think our attack on illicit opioids is building momentum.  It is going to be a long difficult road, but we are gaining real traction.  As you know, this Administration has sharply increased drug trafficking prosecutions, especially as to opioids.  In 2018 we prosecuted 36 percent more opioid-related offenses than we did in the previous year.  Fentanyl prosecutions were up 200 percent.

Fentanyl and other synthetics are especially deadly. Unless we make progress on fentanyl, the gains we are making elsewhere can be overwhelmed.  A year ago, the Department launched Operation SOS, targeting synthetics in 10 high-impact districts. The first year’s results are promising, and I plan to ratchet up this initiative.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/08/in-speech-to-police-attorney-general-barr-promises-proposal-to-speed-up-death-penalty-and-ratchet-up.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[douglasacogan]

Notable new comments about crime and prosecutions from AG William Barr in speech to United States Attorneys

I noted last week that I have not recently posted too many speeches on crime and punishment from Justice Department leaders in part because there have not been too many of these speeches lately.  But today, Attorney General William Barr delivered these extended remarks as the "Opening Remarks at the U.S. Attorney's Conference" in Washington DC.  The whole speech is worth reading, and here are some excepts:

We can all be rightly proud of this Administration’s record on violent crime.  We have made impressive progress. But we must keep up a full court press.  There are still areas of the country where we have not made sufficient headway. For many communities in America, armed criminals and violent crime are still the norm.  We cannot accept this status quo.

That is why the Department remains committed to driving down violent crime, including through the vigorous prosecution of firearms offenses.  I have been glad to see that prosecutions under § 922(g) are at an all-time high.  We need to maintain our focus on getting illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of violent criminals.  I want all of our offices to work with their state and local partners on “Triggerlock” cases that take advantage of stiff federal penalties to punish and deter violent felons. I also want to see vigorous enforcement of the background-check process, both against prohibited persons who “lie and try” and against firearm dealers who skirt the process. We need to provide real deterrence.  I look forward to working with all of you to step up our drive against gun crime.

As you all know, we also cannot reduce violent crime without confronting the role of gangs and other criminal organizations.  Working with our state and local partners, we must keep sustained pressure on these groups, which are primary drivers of violent crime. Many of these criminal organization have national or transnational profiles, and thus require a coordinated federal strategy....

While I am talking about violent crime, I want to make clear that, while our focus is often on predatory violence, I am also deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes that we have seen over the past decade.  We must have zero tolerance for violence that is motivated by hatred for our fellow citizens — whether on the basis of their racial, religious, or sexual characteristics.  We also need to take a strong stand against those who would use violence to intimidate people from exercising their rights to free speech and to participate in the democratic process.

In addition to guns and gangs, the other significant driver of violent crime is drug crime, which represents another priority for the Department.  When I returned to the Department as Attorney General, it was disheartening to learn about the state of the drug problem across the country.  In most respects, the problem is much worse than when I left the Department in 1993.  I believe that the last Administration was not aggressive enough in fighting the drug threat; a lot of ground was lost; and a tsunami was allowed to build up that has been hitting the country.

We cannot be discouraged.  When I look at the overdose deaths, the blighted lives, and the families and communities broken by drug addiction, it reminds me why we cannot surrender.  We must work harder than ever.

I am proud that this Administration has shone a much-needed light on the opioid epidemic and that the Department has taken a number of dramatic steps to tackle this national crisis head on. And while there are encouraging signs of progress, our work is far from over.  On the streets, the rise of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids has been followed by 100-times stronger car-fentanyl and by mixtures of fentanyl with cocaine and other drugs.  We must also continue our efforts to prevent and punish diversion of licit drugs, another area where the Department has done great work.  And, as you know, while opioids are the most acute problem in many areas of the country, in other areas Mexican methamphetamine is surging.  We must keep fighting and keep innovating to match the ever-evolving threat....

As I alluded to earlier, there are also a number of other focused initiatives that I hope to see continue and strengthen during my tenure.  For me, the elder-fraud initiative provides a great example for how the Department can use its resources with a high return.  Not only is the elderly population among our most vulnerable citizens, but we are learning more and more about the role of foreign and transnational criminal organizations in perpetrating these schemes.  Another area I want see us redouble our efforts is in prosecuting human trafficking violations, especially those involving children....

That should give you a sense of my views on the priorities of the Department. But my charge today is not for you go out into the field and to maximize prosecutions in each of these categories. You will always need to strike a balance.  And as you do, here are a few things to keep in mind:

First, in a Department like ours, the notion of priorities should not be confused.  We have an obligation to enforce federal law, and that means covering all of the bases as best we can. If we say that the Department will prioritize violent crime prosecutions, we know that this cannot mean we ignore civil-rights violations or environmental crimes.  We must try our best to enforce federal law across the board with the limited resources we have.

A necessary corollary is that federal prosecutors must exercise sound discretion to strike a balance.  This balance requires that each of you adapt the Department’s general priorities to the specific circumstances of your districts. Thus, while opioids represent the greatest drug threat in many districts, others face greater problems with methamphetamines or cocaine.  And while transnational criminal organizations may be the primary driver of violent crime in one city, another may struggle with more localized, home-grown groups.  Our Department priorities are never intended to take your eyes off the leading problems in your district, including the great work of your civil divisions, which protect government resources by defending the United States and rooting out fraud against the government. Each of you is responsible for determining where we can have the biggest impact in advancing the safety and well-being of your communities....

Fairness must inform all that we do. After all, the whole concept of our American constitution was to establish a Government that could serve the common good while checking government power to protect individual liberty. And that is the Constitution we are sworn to support and defend.  As you carry out your mission, I rely on you to lead wisely, hold those who injure the public accountable, and zealously represent the United States in court, while at the same time maintaining unshakable confidence in the rule of law and justice for all. That is your charge, and I know that you embrace it willingly, and well.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/06/notable-new-comments-about-crime-and-prosecutions-from-ag-william-barr-in-speech-to-united-states-at.html via http://www.rssmix.com/