GUN CONTROL The Enforcement Gap

06/09/2003

HERE ARE SOME REASONS to worry about the proliferation of handguns:

Individuals who lie during criminal background checks are rarely punished.

Corrupt gun dealers are rarely prosecuted.

Federal laws to keep guns out of the hands of children and away from schools are almost never enforced.

Police routinely recover guns with obliterated serial numbers, but those cases are rarely taken to court.

This information comes from a disturbing new report, titled "The Enforcement Gap," by The Americans for Gun Safety Foundation. The data, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, seem to contradict promises by the Clinton and Bush administrations to aggressively enforce federal gun laws to keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton ordered the Justice and Treasury departments to commit greater resources to investigating and prosecuting firearms violations. The departments didn't follow through. At the time, George W. Bush was governor of Texas. He criticized the Clinton administration's weak enforcement policies and promised to do a better job if elected president. But the Bush record is little better.

If these presidents had been true to their words on gun issues, a lot more people would be in jail for firearms violations. According to the study, some 11,000 felons have lied on background-check forms in an effort to try to get guns in Missouri. Federal authorities prosecuted only 20. The study estimates that 3,800 people lied on the forms in Illinois, and that only 30 were prosecuted.

Some federal prosecutors take issue with the study's numbers, saying they are at least misleading if not inaccurate, because no arrests are made in some gun cases and because some cases are prosecuted in state courts. The Justice Department also points out that the number of prosecutions has gone up 38 percent during the Bush administration. The foundation is umimpressed, and says that's like a .100 hitter in baseball claiming credit for a .138 batting average.

A dangerous situation clearly exists. A mentally ill felon seeking a gun can find a corrupt gun dealer willing to bend the rules to make a buck. That's plenty of reason for federal authorities to get serious about enforcing gun laws on the books. And, after all, that's what Mr. Bush promised he would do.