President Obama again this week called for gun control, bemoaning an increase of illegal guns on the streets, but newly compiled statistics show that federal gun convictions have plummeted under the president, prompting critics to charge that he isn’t enforcing current gun laws.
The so-called TRAC numbers compiled by the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University show that convictions have dropped 34.5 percent over the last 10 years.
As a result, there were just 6,002 convictions recorded, a 5.8 percent one year drop.
“Compared to five years ago when there were 7,101 weapons convictions, the number of FY 2015 convictions of this type is down 15.5 percent. Convictions over the past year are lower than they were 10 years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 34.8 percent from the level of 9,206 reported in 2005 but up 51.6 percent from the level of 3,958 reported in 1995,” said the school’s latest report.
In Chicago Tuesday, Obama endorsed gun control in a speech to police. He also decried the huge cache of guns available for illegal purchase, which laws on the books are aimed at stopping if enforced.
“There are those who criticize any gun safety reforms by pointing to my hometown as an example. They say, well, look, Chicago had a spike in homicides this year, they’ve got gun safety laws, so this must be proof that tougher gun safety laws don’t help, maybe make things worse,” said Obama.
“The problem with that argument, as the Chicago Police Department will tell you, is that 60 percent of guns recovered in crimes come from out of state. You’ve just got to hop across the border. As I said before, it is easier for a lot of young people in this city and in some of your communities to buy a gun than buy a book. It is easier in some communities to find a gun than it is to find some fresh vegetables at a supermarket. That’s just a fact,” he added.
How to stop violent crime https://t.co/KOUD4EKMQx #2A #gunsense pic.twitter.com/q3ApSH8fbo
— NRA (@NRA) October 28, 2015
That prompted the National Rifle Association to first enforce the laws banning illegal guns before adding on other laws that might not be enforced.
“The untold secret in Washington is that he has all the laws he needs to stop the bloodshed now,” said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre. “Under the existing federal gun laws, he could take every felon with a gun, drug dealer with a gun and criminal gangbanger with a gun off the streets tomorrow and lock them up for five years or more.”
LaPierre added, “If you want to stop violent crime, and I know you do, take violent criminals off the street. Prosecute them under the current federal gun laws, and make sure they don’t get to their next crime scene. That’s the way to save lives.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
