Every honest citizen should thank Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein for pushing an effective law enforcement partnership called EXILE.
This is a rational, comprehensive legal weapon against gun crime. That’s right. It does not waste police, prosecutor and court time enforcing senseless – and possibly unconstitutional – laws against guns owned by honest citizens. It imposes severe penalties provided by laws already on the books against criminals.
For decades, our legal system did not routinely enforce laws aimed at felons who commit yet another felony just by possessing a firearm.
Those laws too often ended up being mere chips on the plea bargaining table, tossed aside to get a guilty plea on other charges.
Face facts, America: Even those irrationally committed to banning all private gun ownership have to admit grudgingly that the overwhelming majority of crimes involving firearms is committed by a small and often recidivist – number of criminals. Those criminals obtain, keep and bear weapons illegally, so more laws mean nothing to them anyway.
Your average murderer, drug dealer, armed robber or mugger is not going to get particularly finicky about obtaining a proper permit. Criminals have ready access to a vast stream of illegal guns, including fully automatic weapons, sawed-off shotguns and anything else a felon would desire.
Just the untracked seepage from armed forces around the world, including our own, provide those who flout the law an arsenal beyond comprehension. Around the globe and across this nation spreads an ever-growing traffic in firearms already declared illegal by most nations.
The best thing we as a society can do to prevent gun crime is to lock up those who use guns to commit crime. Target criminals. That is the mission of EXILE. It is a partnership of federal, state and local agencies to bring full force of law to bear where it will do the most good. The program, which includes community action, revitalization and public awareness, also helps fight “witness intimidation because they know we can take these guys off the street immediately and put them away for years,” according to Rosenstein.
He said the program is working. He announced eight federal indictments this week, bringing the total since the program was founded here in February to about 90. That does not include 25 “FLIP” defendants. Those are criminals holding out on state charges who receive “Federal Letters of Intent to Prosecute” on firearms charges. They roll over fast.
Rosenstein Tuesday credited Baltimore City Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, Deputy Commissioner Marcus Brown and City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy, along with outstanding rank and file personnel in all agencies, with making the program a success.
“We”re getting violent repeat offenders off the street. We want to catch them before they kill again and put them away for along, long time,” he said.
Rosenstein said the Baltimore-area program partners with similar operations in Prince George¹s County and Wicomico County, “which has the third-highest murder rate in Maryland.”
EXILE and similar initiatives across the state and nation are the most effective weapons we have against gun violence. This program requires passage of no new oppressive laws and puts no burden on honest citizens who merely wish to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. It works. We must support it.
