Free Republic

Program aims to cut crime by disarming convicted felons Kansas City law enforcement closed 2004 by announcing that more than 700 defendants had been charged since 1999 under Project Ceasefire, a program that penalizes illegal firearm possession. Though the program is best known for ensnaring felons who illegally possess firearms, it also has snagged felons who simply possessed ammunition and offenders who had weapons while violating court orders of protection. U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said that gun violations will continue to be a top concern for his office. “Our focus remains on prosecuting repeat offenders who make the decision to...

The Justice Department's Safe Neighborhoods Project CeaseFire - South Carolina is an innovative pilot program based on new technology as well as traditional law enforcement concepts, designed to reduce gun violence in designated areas. To achieve this goal, four component parts operate in mutual support. The first component, a unified law enforcement task force, consists of Federal, state and local prosecutors and law enforcement officers closely coordinated with Weed and Seed and tactical police units operating within targeted urban areas. The task force aggressively investigates and prosecutes firearms violations in the federal court system, seeking meaningful consequences for violators using...

Agents in S.C. refer more cases to U.S. attorney's office. Federal agents are cracking down on gun offenders in South Carolina, sending hundreds of cases to federal prosecutors each year -- up from a few dozen five years ago. And those cases -- handled by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- are resulting in convictions: 116 in 2002, compared with half that in 1998. "We are targeting the worst of the worst," said Strom Thurmond Jr., the U.S. attorney for South Carolina. "When someone with multiple violent convictions is sentenced to a substantial amount of time...