APRI Highlights - Spring 2004

APRI Examines Links between Guns, Gangs and Drugs

The nationwide proliferation of illegal drugs has led to an increase in illegal firearms, gang activity and, tragically, juvenile involvement in crime.

The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2002 indicates that two-thirds of reported murders were committed with a firearm, and a significant percentage had an additional drug and/or gang component. Responding to the increased challenges of drug- and firearm-fueled crime, APRI, in conjunction with the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, continues to develop and provide assistance and training to prosecutors through its Hitting the Mark program for experienced prosecutors and Fundamentals of Firearms Prosecution for those new to firearms prosecution.

At its most basic, the connection between illegal drugs and firearms has several distinct profiles: individual involvement, gang connections, and as an industry involving turf expansion and protection dynamics. Each form of the problem raises different challenges to successful prosecution.

On an individual basis, drug users commit crimes ranging from purse snatchings to home invasions to support their habits. These crimes often occur at gunpoint and are progressively more violent depending on the type of drug involved. Additionally, the act of purchasing drugs involves the inherent danger of being robbed before, during, or after the transaction. Frequently, both the buyer and seller carry firearms for protection. Arrested individuals regularly admit being armed for their own defense during these transactions.

Increasingly, gang activity is funded through illegal drug sales. Gang members use stolen or illegal firearms as currency to obtain drugs, or conversely, use drugs to obtain firearms. Illegal firearms often move within a gang community or drug dealing chain as rewards or for protection, easily reaching the juvenile population in transactions very fluid and difficult to trace. Older gang members recruit juveniles to make drug/firearms transactions anticipating that, if caught, the juvenile will receive a lesser charge while the older gang member escapes unscathed.

In addition, illegal firearms have become an essential element in regulating the illegal drug trade or expanding “turf” or markets. Firearms are routinely used to “encourage” payments, resolve disputes and control subordinates, eliminate rivals or competitors, or move into new neighborhoods and intimidate customers. As an instrument of commerce, illegal firearms are frequently used to regulate market share of individual dealers or gangs. “Stash houses” and homemade drug laboratories are frequently repositories of illegal firearms, thus moving both illegal drugs and firearms beyond urban communities into new neighborhoods and smaller communities.

To learn more about the connection between illegal drugs and illegal firearms, or to apply for upcoming gun violence trainings, visit APRI’s Web site at www.ndaa-apri.org, call (703) 549-4253, or e-mail gvp@ndaa-apri.org.