APRI Highlights - Summer 2002

BJA Sets High Priority on Reducing Gun Violence

By The Honorable Richard R. Nedelkoff
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance

Last year, President Bush announced Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)—a new, national initiative bringing together all facets of law enforcement to reduce gun violence in the United States. In support of this initiative, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is administering a $70 million program to hire nearly 600 state and local prosecutors through Community Gun Violence Prosecution Grants. BJA has worked extensively with the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), along with partners in law enforcement , to make this program a success and our neighborhoods safer. BJA also has funded APRI trainings to increase prosecutor knowledge and skills in firearms prosecutions.

On May 29, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address on PSN to attendees at the inaugural Combating Gun Violence: The Fundamentals of Firearms Course held at the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. This course represents a first under PSN—a course specifically designed to help local prosecutors learn about issues and strategies for prosecuting crimes involving the use of firearms. The course also represents BJA’s commitment to assist states and communities in developing the best practices for combating crime and violence. Getting resources, training and technical assistance into the hands of local prosecutors and getting guns out of the hands of criminals are top priorities for BJA. BJA looks forward to continuing to work with all those involved in combating gun violence for the betterment of all communities across America.