District Attorney George Gascon has backed recent gun control legislation in California in order to keep Los Angeles residents safe — yet has a policy against prosecuting defendants on gun charges.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed several bills Friday that place restrictions on sales and ownership of weapons, including those that are fake, commonly called ghost guns. Gascon praised Newsom in a tweet.
“Thank you, @cagovernor Newsom, for signing several important bills to protect Californians from #gunviolence, including four bills supported by my office,” he tweeted.
“Easy accessibility of firearms, precursor parts, and ammunition has compounded this nation’s gun violence crisis. These sensible measures will help stop this deadly #epidemic,” he continued.
It comes as Gascon could face a recall election in the next few months after a bipartisan team collected 717,000 voter signatures, more than enough to qualify possibly for the November midterm elections. Police, victims, and prosecutors have angrily denounced his policies for two years, calling them soft on crime and pro-criminal.
One of the first things Gascon did after taking office was to forbid prosecutors from filing additional charges, called enhancements, for a variety of crimes. These include belonging to a gang, using a gun, and prior convictions.
PROSECUTOR GETS BLAME FOR KILLING OF TWO LA AREA POLICE OFFICERS
Two Los Angeles-area police officers were gunned down last month by a gang member after Gascon’s office downgraded a gun charge that would have kept the gunman locked up past the time of the murders. Members of the community blamed the district attorney for their deaths following the high-profile slayings.
“How can George Gascon have the nerve to talk about needing new gun laws when he refuses to endorse the ones we already have?” said veteran prosecutor John Lewin. “If you want to deter criminals from using guns, punish them for doing so. This is why we have gun enhancements! The idea is that you want to increase the penalty so much for using a gun in a crime that the criminals decide to leave them at home.”
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Lewin said gun violence has increased to epidemic proportions because Gascon forbids filing these charges. In addition, groups of gang members have turned into armed robbers because they know they won’t be held accountable, Lewin said.
“If they don’t suffer consequences for their actions, they will continue to behave in dangerous and irresponsible ways,” Lewin added.
