ISSUE: Guns—The Elephant In The Room?
by Adam Lynch
April 6, 2005
The March 17 shooting death of Jackson Police Officer Thomas Catchings by 18-year-old Omar Hampton put gun laws in the city of Jackson on the center stage in a number of political forums. Guns are now easy-access weapons, lament many city representatives, and such was the prevailing opinion in two ward debates so far this political season. This public acknowledgment by candidates of firearm saturation issues in Jackson drew cheers from audience members.
“I’m for taking the guns off the street,” declared Vallena Greer, Democratic candidate for Ward 2. “They’re just doing too much damage and costing too many lives.”
Ward 2 candidate Ineva Pitman and incumbent Democrat Leslie Burl McLemore took up the same call, joining Greer to numerous nods of agreement among forum spectators.
“I’m a strong advocate of getting guns off the street. We have too many guns and clearly we should work with the police department and the district attorney and others to encourage young people to turn in their guns,” McLemore told the crowd, adopting a stance largely abhorred by the conservative majority dominating the State Senate. “In a state where we worship guns and everybody has at least one gun, I’m afraid we’ll have guns (killing us) until we change that mentality.”
‘Somebody’s Always Got a Gun’
The same opinion dominated the recent Ward 3 debates, adhering to a philosophy largely adopted by leaders of inner cities, where the majority of homicides, according to crime statistics, are committed at the popping end of a firearm.
“I think it’s important to establish a strong grass-root legislation for gun control,” said Ward 3 candidate Stanley Amos. “Furthermore, I want all guns confiscated by the police to be melted down in public view, so that everybody will know that they’re gone for good.”
Ward 3 Democratic incumbent Kenneth Stokes re-asserted his own long-term goal for more restrictive gun laws.
“We have to do something about getting these guns off the streets,” Stokes said in an interview. “Most of the shootings happening in my ward don’t involve armed robberies that go bad. Most of the shootings here have to do with domestic disputes. Somebody gets mad at their spouse or at somebody (connected informally) to the relationship, and somebody pulls out a gun. Somebody’s always got a gun. It‘s a shame, and it’s killing too many people.”
Jackson Police Chief Robert Moore said he also believes that guns are too easily obtained by the wrong people. Moore has been backing a study, with the help of Jackson State University professors, in learning where the weapons are coming from and how they’re getting into the hands of murderers, some of them minors.
“Gun violence has decreased over the years, but we want to take it farther. We want to start an interdiction team there,” Moore said, complaining that progress is largely being held up on the state level. “We’re looking at the young men committing these crimes, and we tried to get some legislation passed (to restrict gun access for potential criminals), but everybody’s cooperating except the Legislature.”
‘Strangling Us to Death’
“They’ve got such a strong gun lobby, and they’re just strangling us to death in the urban communities,” Chief Moore said of the Legislature. “I’ve seen other folks leading gun battles all over the U.S., and we just continue to roll up against the same old obstacles. The Legislature just is not willing to go out and make the right decision to help us with this particular gun situation.”
It’s for this reason, say gun safety advocates, that Mississippi laws are far too easily circumvented.
According to information from the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, no state law here requires background checks for firearm sales at gun shows, nor does Mississippi law enforcement or the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) have access to mental health records for the purpose of completing a background check, despite laws against the mentally ill or involuntarily committed owning guns.
Other flaws speckle the state system, say advocates. Mississippi, for instance, does not enter domestic violence restraining orders into the National Protective Order Registry, which would make the information available to NICS. This means that individuals who are subject to restraining orders are able to purchase firearms—small comfort to a stalked spouse and credence to Stokes’ argument that gun violence regularly stems from domestic abuse.
‘F’ on Family Protection
As late as January of this year, Mississippi received an “F” grade on laws shielding families from gun violence according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The organization says the state has no carrying concealed-weapons law, no secondary private-sales background checks, no gun safety-lock requirements and no child-access prevention laws.
Ward candidates make much talk in pushing for city-wide gun laws, but their efforts are quashed before their votes are even counted thanks to State Statute 45-9-51, which does not allow any Mississippi county or city to regulate guns through sales.
Restricting gun sales is the most unsafe thing an individual city can do, said Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs of the National Rifle Association.
“It doesn’t take a very learned person to realize that criminals, by definition, break laws. And so by definition the people who are affected by laws to restrict sales are law-abiding citizens. In Washington, D.C., for instance, all the bad guys have guns and all the good guys are not allowed to own a gun, not even in their home to protect themselves and their families. Washington is high on the list of America‘s most dangerous cities,” Arulanandam told the Jackson Free Press.
Chief Moore says this argument is circular.
“These arguments go back and forth, but as far as we see it, it’s all about results,” Moore said. “We got a federal law that allows us to put a felon in jail if he’s caught with a gun, and the law is working, but we don’t have anything on the front end to deal with (first-time offenders). If you look at the crime that’s being committed by these 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds, nobody’s giving us any help in this. All we’re asking for is for some help to close up these legal loopholes.”
‘You’re Still No. 1, Mississippi’
Arulanandam argues that the legal processes have done as much as they effectively can because criminals will not, by nature, respect more restrictive gun laws in the first place.
“Surveys done on criminals say that criminals more often than not obtain their guns through illegal means. If you buy guns legally, like through a firearms dealer, there’s a background check through the FBI and local law enforcement. No criminal is going to do that,” Arulanandam said, adding that the national check system was the brainchild of the NRA.
The national background check doesn’t apply to gun shows or pawn shops, however, and it is at these outlets that Moore and others aim their venom.
“We have got to do something about these gun shows,“ ranted Stokes at a recent City Council meeting. “It ain’t fair that the state fairgrounds can bring these things here and deal guns to these thugs without any kind of waiting period or background check.”
Gun-runners know about the lack of a 72-hour waiting period at a Mississippi gun show or a pawn shop. They‘ve been making Mississippi a 48,433 square-mile shopping mart for weapons to fuel gang warfare and crime in Chicago and in other cities north on Interstate 55.
“You guys in Mississippi are really killing us with these guns—you and Indiana,” said Patrick Camden, media informant at the Chicago Police Department, about Mississippi’s liberal gun laws. “We confiscate about 10,000 guns a year on an average, and with that in mind they continue to come in. You can’t legally own a handgun in Chicago, but, oh yeah, they’re finding a way to circumvent those laws with your help. Indiana comes in as a close second, but I think you’re still No. 1, Mississippi.”
Zipping Up the Interstate
U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton said he acknowledged that Mississippi guns are still zipping up the interstate to Chicago and other troubled spots.
“An alarming number of guns used in Chicago are bought in Mississippi, and that is one of the priorities that we have,” Lampton said. “We’re trying to cover everything from gun shows to stolen weapons (making their way up north.)”
Terry Hicks, resident agent in charge of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm’s (ATF) Jackson field office says the amount of trafficking has been decreased since the problem was first introduced to the public in the form of numerous articles from the Chicago Tribune and other sources in 2003.
“We’ve reduced a lot of firearms trafficking in the state,” Hicks said, pointing out that the ATF instituted a system this year where local police departments can trace firearms over the Internet, and that Jackson is one of the departments that he says has access to it. “We work cases everyday concerning people making straw purchases, [where somebody buys a gun for somebody else.] I can’t give you an exact number on the cases we’ve prosecuted, but those prosecuted cases are on the increase since 2003.”
Hicks added that most of the guns the ATF seized “were not purchased at gun shows,” so the idea of gun shows swamping Illinois are a fallacy, and said that he does not consider the state’s gun laws particularly lax.
“It’s really a matter of what the public deems acceptable,” Hicks said. “Mississippi voters will approve of laws as they see fit. If Mississippians wanted more stringent laws, they’d have them. If the people want there to be any more requirements in order to purchase a handgun then it would be passed through state law. It’s literally the will of the people.”
‘Aunts, Uncles and Girlfriends’
Still, Chicago PD doesn’t think Mississippi’s “will of the people” has effectively covered the problem of its bullet-powered migrants shedding blood in Chicago.
“I’m not agreeing with (Hicks),” said Sgt. John Kohles, of Chicago‘s Cage Unit, which deals exclusively with tracking weapons linked to crime. “In firearms purchased in 2004 that were subsequently recovered in connection with crime that same year (guns with a short ownership lifespan that were most likely straw purchases), 60 to 70 percent of the guns bought in 2004 recovered were coming from outside Illinois, and we’ve got statistics showing that the biggest suppliers of out of state guns are Indiana and Mississippi.”
Kohles described a complicated network of “aunts, uncles and girlfriends,” orchestrating purchases in the South.
“People in Chicago have roots down south—and you know all you need is a pulse and the money to buy a handgun down south—so they recruit these people, and they’re getting smarter at it. They’re not making multiple purchases, because ATF automatically gets a record of that, so they’ll get 10 people to buy 10 guns or they’ll get 10 people to buy 20 guns only they won’t buy them the same day. We’re getting flooded.”
Mayoral Candidates Disagree
On a municipal level, Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr., has sided with Moore’s effort to make guns harder for the wrong people to get.
“We need to make sure that we make it as difficult as possible for young people to get their hands on weapons. I feel that the control of gun violence is paramount in reducing crime but also in keeping our children safe,” Johnson said, complaining that a conscious effort for gun control on the federal level would have helped.
“The federal government just let the assault weapon ban lapse, so now we have (more deadly) guns that we have to deal with at the local level that should never have been in compliance with federal law in the first place,” Johnson complained.
Democratic mayoral candidate Frank Melton said the state’s gun laws are good enough already.
“I say we just enforce the ordinances we have,” Melton said. “We had a 15-year-old go into a convenience store and shoot and kill another individual in the process of robbing him, and what I would have done was trace that gun, and make whoever gave that kid a gun an accessory to murder. But we just don’t follow up on these things. We’ve got the young man who committed the homicide, but we don’t have the adult who gave the kid the gun. You can pass guns around in Jackson like you can pass around water. We got all the laws on the book that we need right now. The only thing we need to do is follow our own state statutes.”
When asked about some city leaders’ preference for gun regulation, Republican mayoral candidate Rick Whitlow said he was an avid supporter of the constitutional right to bear arms, possibly putting him at odds with some current council members and many potentially incoming members, according to debates.
“I’m a strong advocate of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms,” Whitlow said. “That’s the law. That’s the Constitution, and I’m behind it 100 percent.”
Follow the JFP’s continuing analysis of campaign issues at www.jacksonfreepress.com/politics/ on the Web.
COMMENTS
This article puts me more firmly in Johnson's camp. And, didn't Barbour talk about crime in Jackson during his campaign? Shouldn't he be working *with* JPD on this?
Kate, check out the whitehouse links on this thread:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=5637_0_40_0_C
When you look at the dollars being spent on drug crime in MS, it makes you wonder if the Feds. and State want to help Jackson at all. If I'm reading this right, it doesn't show a lot of money being given to Jackson as compared to the total dollars spent on drug crime in MS.
   Posted by: tortoise on Apr 07, 05 | 5:43 pm
Oh, yes, Barbour talked about crime in Jackson during his campaign -- and used outdated numbers to scare people into voting for him. And he wasn't the only one.
Read JFP story about it
Barbour's campaign page about Hinds County crime
I don't believe he said much about the gun issue, however.
Posted by: ladd on Apr 07, 05 | 8:57 pm
Several things come to mind when I read some of the naive comments posted about gun control in Mississippi. There are tens of THOUSANDS of federal laws that govern guns in this country. Another law WILL NOT decrease gun related crime. There is a complete lack of respect for the law particular to CERTAIN groups of people in Jackson. They don't buy their guns at gun shows or gun dealers. The purchases are made on the street. They are cheaper there, and no questions are asked. We need more jails, less plea barganing, stiffer/mandatory penalties, tougher jail life (read: work crews!!), and disbanding of the ACLU. The Police chief suggests a study to find out where the guns come from. What a joke!! He's the POLICE CHIEF Damnit!! HE SHOULD ALREADY KNOW!! His Grady looking A** needs to be run out of town. I won't comment on that clown Kenneth Stokes. I've emailed him several times to comment on his horrible record and public antics, but he doesn't have the intestinal fortitude or the BRAINS to reply. I WILL say this, Jackson has gotten MUCH more sorry, crime has increased, major businesses have LEFT TOWN (never to return) during Harvey Johnson's tenure, and the place looks like the slum it really has become. Jackson is what you get when you put black people in charge.
"Jackson is what you get when you put black people in charge." -Restring
Now that's a gem of a statement and certainly highlights your own naivete of the subject!
Posted by: kaust on Apr 10, 05 | 9:01 am
"I WILL say this, Jackson has gotten MUCH more sorry, crime has increased, major businesses have LEFT TOWN (never to return) during Harvey Johnson's tenure, and the place looks like the slum it really has become. Jackson is what you get when you put black people in charge.[/q] - restring
Guess he will be staying home on May 3rd?
Posted by: tortoise on Apr 10, 05 | 10:46 am
Hey Restring,
Excessively materialist, stuck up and conformist cultures are what Rankin and Madison get for having almost uniformally white conservative middle class types in charge (I am white and middle class, and a former right-wing conformist too, so I do know of what I speak)
Unfair caricature of the burbs? Of course it is! See my point???
***APOLOGY***
That last post was really inappropriate. I just got p.o.'ed at restring's remarks about blacks (I really am white MC by the way). It's just that his kind of grossly ignorant mindset really set me off -- and that mentality of looking down on "others" (race or otherwise) is what keeps Mississippi behind. btw, "grossly ignorant" may be a cutting remark, but it's not a personal attack because I am describing an idea, not a person.
I'll answer all 4 replies with one of my own, but you will all have to get your head(s) out of the sand. My response goes to Knol Aust, Tortoise, and Philip. My statement that Jackson is what you get when you put blacks in charge is right on the money. Blacks are in charge, and Jackson is a drug/crime haven. Do you read the papers? Do you watch the news? Do you ever read crime statistics and note where Jackson is ranked as far as overall crime versus other cities throughout the U.S.? Are you aware of how many bank robberies have occurred in Jackson compared to surrounding communities? I am obviously NOT the naive one. If being overly materialistic, stuck up and conformist, not to mention being WHITE is what it takes to live in an area that is relatively FREE of crime and wannabe gangsters, I'm all for whatever it takes. You refer to Madison and Rankin counties as the 'burbs. Wake up!! That's where all the major department stores, restaurants, car dealers, etc, etc have moved. Those counties stand on their own and are not " 'burbs" of Jackson and Hinds county. As far as looking down on "others". Do you look up to the young bucks that are terrorizing Jackson? Is calling a criminal a criminal what is keeping Mississippi behind? You are so out of touch with the facts and reality of what is keeping Mississippi behind that I won't take the time nor do I have the inclination to bring you up to speed. I'm glad my comments set you off. Now if you'll wake up and smell the coffee, you'll realize the crime rate in Jackson is what's driving businesses and law abiding people, mostly Whites, out of Jackson. BTW, I moved out of Jackson to Rankin county 18 months ago. I lived in south Jackson most of my life and got tired of hearing gunshots day and night. I got tired of hearing rap music at every stoplight that was nothing but cussing and talking about killing people and harming women. Jackson has a noise level ordinance to deal with super loud car stereos, but the police donot enforce it. Let me close with this thought. If you FOOLS are happy living with all the criminals in and around Jackson, FINE. I wasn't, so I wised up and moved. Stay there while your property values shrink, I don't care. I reserve the right to express my FACTUAL opinions, and fully intend to excersize that right. Nothing you or anyone else can say will change my mind. One more thing, the "grossly ignorant" remark didn't offend me. It's like they say: It's mind over matter, I don't mind because you don't matter!
Since apparently our bellowing mad bull has bid us adieu, I will post this for the benefit of OTHERS who may be reading this - particularly those who may be influenced by Restringís attitude, as opposed to the substance of the complaints. Therefore, I will focus on his attitude instead:
ìWake up!!î -- ìI'm glad my comments set you off.î -- ìIt's like they say: It's mind over matter, I don't mind because you don't matter!î
These comments imply the following:
(a)îWake Up!!!î It gives the impression that you think anyone with an opinion different about this issue doesnít deserve to be taken seriously. It also implies that you think you have all the knowledge of this matter that, say, God Himself does.
(b)ìItís like they say: Itís mind over matter, I donít mind because you donít matterî. My comments on the last one apply here as well. Furthermore, it gives the impression that you have difficulty thinking beyond clever catchy clichÈ phrases and bluster.
(c) I'm glad my comments set you off.î This is gives the impression you arenít a terribly classy, well-mannered, substantive, or mature person - especially when combined with all your comments so far. In fact, I consider you rough-hewn, rude, immature, and narrow-minded - not to mention trolling for a fight. Of course, I doubt thatíd bother you, because your attitude also gives the impression that youíd think anybody whoíd describes your ìbellow like a mad bullî attitude in that manner is some kind of super-wimp who needs some self-respect whipped into him so he will become more ìmanlyî. I could very well be wrong, but you certainly give that impression. (How harsh treatment of ìwimpsî increases the ìwimpísî self-respect or fortitude is beyond me. I get the feeling thatís just a lame excuse to continue to take out frustrations upon them). Yes, I did make an inappropriate retort, but at least I apologized for my demeaning remark inside 10 minutes. What do you have to show you redeemed yourself in this regard?
I hate to break the news to you, Resling (if you are still lurking), but bellowing like a mad bull will NOT get people to take your opinions seriously. It just makes you look like an angry person who lacks emotional self-discipline. Come back when youíre ready to discuss this matter on a level WELL BEYOND the level of Yow-Yow sensationalist talk radio.
First let me say you appear to be the resident wimp. You have all the wimp facts, no doubt garnered from your life's experiences. I'm not surprised that you spot your own personal/emotional shortcomings by projecting them onto others. Your failed attempt to drag me into a fight by your remarks that I am looking for one is comical. So, rather than sink to your level I'll repeat my orginal concerns. Jackson is a crime ridden city. The crime rate has increased substantially under Johnson's tenure. Major businesses are leaving in droves. Your response shows that YOU infact are the one that is intolerant of others thoughts. My statements are backed up by cold hard facts. Where you came up with the diatribe on wimps makes me wonder about your whole lifestyle, but I'll leave that to you. BTW, I have no reason to redeem myself, I'm right and the FACTS back up everything I have said. I won't attack you personally, mainly because I don't care what you think about me. I AM frustated because people like you, and that Jackass Harvey Johnson turn a blind eye to the reality in Jackson. Rather than you running your mouth by personally criticizing me, why don't you prove me wrong by producing facts that refute my factual claims that Jackson is a city on the decline, property values are falling and crime is on the rise. Show me with facts that the Jackson Public Schools aren't nearly war zones. I have several nieces and nephews that have graduated from JPS or their parents pulled them out and placed the children in private schools. I have a daughter that was sent to a private school after she finished elementary school in Jackson. The TEACHERS recommended that she be put in private school, and not subject her to the garbage that goes on in Jackson's middle and High schools. Did you catch that?? Hello, Earth to "Philip!" Again, the substance of my concerns are fact based. I repeat that because you seem more interested in portraying me as a bad person than addressing the problems in Jackson. Jackson is going to hell on a bobsled. Ask ANYONE running against or campaigning against Johnson in the mayorial race. It's unfortunate that your "White Guilt" has blinded you to the decline of what used to be a decent place to live for law abiding citizens. Like I said, if you and others choose to accept that type enviroment, FINE. I don't, and will not rest until the scum that has poisoned Jackson has been removed. BTW, my wake up comment was directed at you and anyone else that is ignoring the deplorable conditions in Jackson. I like the way you tried to use it against me in an attempt to offend others. Better luck next time. As far as dicussing this matter with you, even if you were capable of one, there is nothing to discuss. The facts about Jackson are the facts. Talking about them won't diminish the reality, OR change my mind.
We need more jails, less plea barganing, stiffer/mandatory penalties, tougher jail life (read: work crews!!), and disbanding of the ACLU.
(emphasis mine)
Yeah, because God knows the ACLU never does anybody any good:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=5725_0_4_0_C
*rolls eyes*
-- Tim
FYI, Restring is gone. "Jackson is what you get when you put black people in charge" is not a jumping off point for reasonable discussion. It's racism, plain and simple, and there's no place for it here. Ciao.
Posted by: iTodd on Apr 11, 05 | 10:38 am
thank you for that todds, i'm getting so depressed lately, but for starters we
all need to at least be civil and reasonable and not make outrageous statements like 'we need more jails.' well, maybe the guv could figure out
a way to save on medicaid if ..
if you want facts, look at the census data. in my neighborhood in Vicksburg
it's 40% under poverty level, compared to average 9%nationwide. Vicksburg
overall is 20%. burbs are beige (that's the chart color). imho if all the rich
folks in Miss. were taxed even double what they are now, it wouldn't do it.
a start maybe but - where are Todd and Trent when we need them? the
all powerful. this state needs help. just does. and drilling for oil under
the gulf islands doesn't count.
oops, that's Thad not Todd! ha. ( new here, sorry)
(and yes I know he's really a big deal now, heard it on
MPR this morning in fact..) (and , see him shrined sort of
at Hinds Raymond library..)
Thanks Todd.
Posted by: emilyb on Apr 11, 05 | 7:36 pm
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