"When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand," Raymond Chandler once advised fellow crime writers who were having problems with a scene.

    Guns are a significant part of the mystique of crime novels and thrillers. From the police detective’s old snub nosed .38 revolver to James Bond’s Walther PPK.7.65 ml. (with a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window); the guns are part of their fictional identity. The guns serve as a tool to help the good guys fight the bad guys, who are also armed.

    Although I’m against gun controls that hamper or deny law-abiding citizens the right to defend themselves, I’m all for strict and tough enforcement of gun laws that prohibit criminals from using them in the commission of a crime.

    On January 30^th, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft visited Philadelphia to talk about the federal government’s success at getting bad guys – and their illegal guns – off the street.

    Ashcroft said he came to Philadelphia to speak at the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) National Conference, which was held from January 30^th to February 1^st. According to the Justice department, more than 1,300 federal prosecutors, state and local law enforcement officials and PSN teams members from across the country were in attendance. The PSN teams coordinate the prosecution and reduction of gun violence in their own jurisdictions.

    "In too many neighborhoods in America, law-abiding citizens are afraid to walk down the street because of criminals," Ashcroft told the conference. "In too many neighborhoods, innocents are slaughtered. Communities cower in fear. It is our obligation to end this carnage and defend every American’s right to his or her personal safety."

    Ashcroft went on to say that law enforcement officials are called to defend American communities from the degradation of gun crime and uphold the freedoms of all Americans.

    The Attorney General reported that in 1999, criminals with guns murdered more than 10,000 people, and for every fatal shooting there were roughly three non-fatal shootings as well. The real tragedy, as Ashcroft rightly pointed out, is that two-thirds of all gun crimes are committed by repeat offenders. Ashcroft also acknowledged that law enforcement officers experience first-hand the devastation caused by gun crimes and among the victims are many police officers who died in the line of duty.

    Ashcroft said the concept of Project Safe Neighborhoods was disarmingly (pun intended?) simple: federal, state and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors working together to investigate, arrest and prosecute criminals with guns to get the maximum penalties available under state or federal law.

    He said the message to armed criminals was unambiguous: no more slipping through the cracks, you’ll go to prison.

    The U.S. Justice Department started the nation-wide program that targeted violent firearm offenders in 2001. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, Patrick L. Meehan, used the national program as a vehicle to expand an existing local crime initiative, Operation Ceasefire.

    In 1999, Operation Ceasefire established taskforces in Philadelphia and the surrounding five suburban counties to investigate and prosecute convicted felons who unlawfully posses firearms, criminals engaged in selling firearms without a license and criminals who possess, carry, or use a firearm in federal crimes of violence or drug trafficking.

    Working with the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF), the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office and the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office targeted the area’s most violent and dangerous firearms offenders in the local court systems for prosecution in the federal system. According to U.S. Justice officials, the federal system has a more certain and severe sentencing scheme, the pre-trial detention of defendants awaiting trial and the swifter disposition of these cases in federal court.

    Ashcroft laid out the stats: since the start of the program in 2001, federal gun crime prosecution has increased by 32 percent. So far, 7,747 criminals with guns have been convicted, making the streets and neighborhoods a little bit safer.

    Perhaps to coincide with the kick off of the national conference, Philadelphia Police launched a massive raid on 50 suspected drug houses in various parts of the city, including the section of the city known as the "Badlands."

    The raids were part of the city’s local anti-crime initiative called Operation Safe Streets. The police operations had up to then targeted the open-air, blatant drug markets, which of course moved the dealers into houses. The highly public raids were designed to smoke the dealers off the streets and into houses.

    The Philadelphia Police say that they issued 70 search warrants, arrested 123 suspects and scooped up drugs, cash and 28 guns.

    Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to interview U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, the special agents in charge of the FBI and DEA and other high level law enforcement officials on the subject of guns, drugs and crime. I’ve also spoken to a good number of street cops who serve on the front lines of the war on crime.

    Most of the senior officials and the street cops agree that the solution to gun crime is stiff sentences and no parole, which is what the federal government offers. Cops and DAs often complain that local judges are far too lenient and they say federal judges are tougher on criminals.

    Gun control advocates would ask for more laws and limits on purchasing guns as well. Their true desire, it seems to me, is to totally remove guns from private ownership. But, as any cop knows, criminals don’t go to gun stores to legally purchase firearms. Heroin and cocaine are totally outlawed, but those laws don’t stop users or dealers. The way to deal with gun crimes is strict enforcement of the existing laws.

    As President Bush bluntly put it when he visited Philadelphia to launch the Safe Neighborhood Program back in May, 2001, "If you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time."