For Immediate Release Contact: Bryan Miller
April 20, 2006 (856) 371-3038
CEASEFIRE NJ AND CAMDEN COMMUNITY LEADERS DECRY GROWING FLOW OF ILLEGAL GUNS FROM PHILADELPHIA
Updated ATF Data Previously Denied Public Released, Shows Dramatic Increase in Illegal Guns Coming From Philadelphia
Camden: Ceasefire NJ, the statewide coalition of groups and individuals devoted to reducing gun violence, hosted a press conference this afternoon in front of the Federal District Courthouse in Camden, the site last week of the charging by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of three Camden men by with purchasing handguns in Philadelphia and illegally transporting them to Camden for street sale. Ceasefire NJ was joined by several community leaders from Camden neighborhoods.
Wren Ingram, community leader from the Fairview neighborhood, said: “There are so many people seeking to do good in Camden, seeking to revitalize and reinvigorate every neighborhood, but our jobs are made infinitely more difficult by the influx of illegal guns. It is important for Camden’s residents and public officials to know where the guns come from, so we might find ways to combat them and the damage they wreak.”
Bryan Miller, Executive Director of Ceasefire NJ, said: “Ceasefire NJ has long maintained that it was no coincidence that Camden was named ‘America’s Most Dangerous City’ for two years running, at the same time that the business of moving guns from the legal to the illegal market in Philadelphia grew more efficient and deadly. We have said that Camden’s plight and its proximity to Philly’s vibrant and menacing illegal gun business were and are inexorably linked.”
“Sadly, though, due to their kowtowing to the wishes of the gun lobby and industry, the Bush Administration and US Congressional leadership have conspired in recent years to keep secret information that would enable to public and policy-makers from learning the truth about gun flows,” continued Miller. “But, today we are able to provide to the media and public updated data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which proves Ceasefire NJ’s contentions. This data shows clearly that the flow of illegal guns from Philadelphia has grown steadily and dangerously in recent years.”
Miller pointed to the ATF Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative report on Camden for year 2000 (at http://www.atf.gov/firearms/ycgii/2000/cityreports/camdennj.pdf), which shows that guns from Pennsylvania accounted for 23.5% of guns recovered in Camden and traced in 2000. Data from year 2000 is the last info available to the public, despite the facts that all Camden recovered crime guns continue to be traced and that local taxpayer funds are used to do much of the tracing work. Miller then pointed to ATF reports on Camden for years 2003 and 2004 (marked Official Use Only – Not for Dissemination Outside of Law Enforcement Agencies), which showed that guns from Pennsylvania’s portion of crime gun traces in Camden had grown to 32.2% in 2003 and 39.7% in 2004.
Miller said: “The same two years during which violent crime grew to such a height in Camden that it gained the dubious distinction of being named ‘America’s Most Dangerous City saw a dramatic increase in illegal guns coming across the bridges from Philly to Camden. This was no coincidence.”
“The fact is that Camden is devastated by Pennsylvania’s weak gun laws, laws that allow criminal entrepreneurs to buy guns in Philly and bring them here, laws that encourage the growing efficiency and damage of the illegal gun business. Make no mistake,” said Miller, “Pennsylvania’s lax gun laws result in putting guns in the hands of felons and violent teens in Camden, who use those guns to wound, maim and kill every day.”
Miller called on leaders on both sides of the Delaware River to work together to strengthen Pennsylvania’s gun laws. He pointed to the advocacy work of the PATH (Pennsylvanians Against Trafficking Handguns) Coalition, which seeks the enactment of a state law limiting individuals in Pennsylvania to the purchase of no more than a single handgun in any thirty day period, colloquially know as One-Handgun-A-Month, as key. (see PATH Coalition info at: www.PATHCoalition.org)
Ingram closed with: “It is saddening that criminal entrepreneurs can and do take advantage of Pennsylvania’s weak gun laws to bring illegal guns to our city. It is in the interests of all of Camden’s residents for our neighboring state to strengthen its gun laws and stop the flow of illegal guns across the Delaware.”
