Memorandum on Deterring and Reducing Gun Crime

Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General

Subject: Deterring and Reducing Gun Crime

Since the start of my Administration, we have developed and implemented a number of effective national strategies to reduce crime. We have provided funds to over 11,000 communities to hire and deploy more than 92,000 local law enforcement officers; we have prevented more than a quarter of a million illegal handgun sales through Brady background checks; and we have developed a coordinated attack on the illegal sources of guns used in crime. Dozens of other smart, tough, crime-fighting strategies have been put in place throughout the country through the leadership and dedicated efforts of State and local police and prosecutors, Mayors, U.S. Attorneys, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and community leaders.

During this period, the Nation's crime rate has dropped by more than 20 percent, and crime committed with guns has dropped 27 percent. In certain communities, where Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials have worked with other community leaders, violent crime rates have gone down even more dramatically. In Boston, Massachusetts, for example, when law enforcement and community leaders worked together to reduce violence by youth gangs, they reduced the number of homicides among youth by 70 percent in just 2 years. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, effective law enforcement and prevention efforts conducted by public-private partnerships have reduced homicides by 30 percent and summertime homicides by 75 percent. And in Richmond, Virginia, effective and coordinated law enforcement, including stepped up enforcement of gun crimes through the program known as Project Exile, has reduced the homicide rate significantly.

Still, the number of people killed with firearms remains unacceptably high. More than 14,000 people were murdered with guns in the United States in 1997. We must redouble our efforts to deter and further reduce gun crime— and work to make every neighborhood and community free of gun violence.

I therefore direct you to develop an integrated firearms violence reduction strategy that draws on the proven measures and innovative approaches being demonstrated by communities throughout the country. We know that gun violence issues differ in each community, and no single program or strategy will be right for every community. Therefore, in developing the strategy, you should consult closely with U.S. Attorneys and ATF Special Agents in Charge, as well as other Federal, State, and local law enforcement, elected officials, and other leaders. The strategy should consider the special needs of local communities and strike an appropriate balance between Federal and State law enforcement. I ask that the strategy specifically include elements to:

(1) Increase investigation and prosecution of significant firearms violations, including illegal possession, use, and trafficking of guns, through innovative programs such as Project Exile and Boston's Operation Ceasefire;

(2) Expand comprehensive "crime gun" tracing, analysis, and mapping; increase use of ballistics identification technology; and coordinate use of crime gun information to identify illegal gun markets, gun "hot spots," and illegal gun traffickers;

(3) Strengthen the coordination of law enforcement and regulatory enforcement efforts to ensure compliance with all applicable laws by federally licensed gun dealers and prospective gun purchasers;

(4) Implement targeted deterrence of violent offenders through (a) improved coordination with probation and parole officials supervising such offenders, and (b) swift and certain punishment for those found to have violated the conditions of their parole or probation; and

(5) Promote problem-solving analysis and innovative strategies to work closely with community members to identify gun criminals, remove weapons in the hands of juveniles, search for and seize crime guns, and increase the public's knowledge of their community's gun-related crime and violence problem.

Finally, I direct you to make recommendations on how best to allocate Federal resources to support the goals of the strategy you develop. I further direct you to provide me with your report on this integrated firearms violence reduction strategy within 90 days of the date of this memorandum.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON