Think Outside the NRA Box

It’s hard to argue with the underlying goal of the gun plan that President Bush announced this week: to hammer criminals with the full force of federal law. But no one should be surprised that his proposal bears a striking resemblance to the plan the National Rifle Assn. supports.

Even a gung-ho NRA member who truly believes that such an approach is all it will take to slow the gun-related death rate would be well advised to look at reported problems with the Richmond, Va., project upon which the Bush plan is based.

The president wants to spend $15 million to hire 113 more assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute gun charges and an additional $550 million over two years to help states crack down on gun crimes. His approach is modeled after Project Exile, launched with much fanfare four years ago in Richmond. Project Exile made gun crimes a federal offense and imposed the toughest sentences possible on those convicted of illegal gun possession or use.

But an analysis in this week’s U.S. News & World Report finds that the vaunted project has had mixed results. During the first year, federal prosecutors in Richmond aggressively targeted every gun offender they could find. But indictments and convictions have fallen off by almost half since 1997, and many suspects are now being released before trial. Federal judges are grumbling over dockets clogged with gun crimes. And federal prisons near Richmond are jammed with felons who would otherwise be locked up in state prisons.

Enforcement of existing laws is an important but incomplete solution to gun violence. And it’s expensive.

In his statement Monday, Bush said nothing about saner, more cost-effective measures to keep gun crimes from happening in the first place. Nothing about closing the loophole allowing buyers at gun shows to evade background checks, nothing about licensing gun owners or limiting purchases.

If the Exile approach can be put back on track, it will be a good step forward for a national gun plan. But it won’t be enough. If Bush is serious about reducing gun-related crime, he’ll need to think outside the NRA box.