Calling violence in the United States the worst of any industrialized nation, President George W. Bush used a police promotion ceremony in Philadelphia on May 14 to unveil a proposal to beef-up prosecution and jail time for criminals who carry or use illegal firearms, according to The Morning Call of Allentown, PA.

With 35 newly-promoted Philadelphia police corporals sitting behind him, the President and Attorney General John Ashcroft announced “Project Safe Neighborhoods,” saying federal, state and local law enforcement agencies need to work together to hand down stricter sentences.

“It will send an unmistakable message that if you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time,” said Bush, kicking off National Police Week with a five-minute speech at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The two-year, $550 million Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative would toughen enforcement of existing gun laws by hiring 113 additional assistant US attorneys and 600 state and local prosecutors.

The proposal, part of the budget before Congress, also pledges to improve criminal history record keeping to prevent criminals from slipping through the National Instant Check System undetected while buying guns from licensed dealers, to expand ballistics testing to trace illegal guns and ammunition, and to start a youth gun interdiction initiative through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

The proposal, the President said, will make safer a nation that has seen its violent crime rate drop 20% from 1989 to 1999.

But, he said, “Unfortunately, the American society is still far too violent,” pointing out that 12,658 people across America were murdered in 1999—two-thirds in shooting deaths.

In promoting his call for federal trials for violators, Bush cited cities such as Richmond, VA, and Boston, MA, where similar programs have reduced crime rates. In Richmond, where local, state and federal authorities implemented “Project Exile,” the first such program in 1997, Bush said the number of gun-related homicides dropped drastically.

Bush’s emphasis on enforcement rather than new restrictions on legal firearms owners was welcomed by firearms organizations and people in the industry. The National Rifle Association supports the measure, saying it will send a tough anti-crime statement without hurting gun sales to law-abiding citizens.

Allen Carr, chief executive officer of A&B Lock and Safe Inc. in Allentown, which sells locks for guns, said he likes the sound of Bush’s proposal.

“Nobody has ever enforced the existing gun laws,” he said.

While Bush was pushing the initiative, hundreds of protestors outside the Convention Center—many from last year’s “Million” Mom March—fumed that the President was only proposing stronger enforcement of current laws and not proposing tougher government restrictions on gun possession.

The Americans for Gun Safety (AGS) aired 60-second ads across the Philadelphia area during Bush’s visit, urging the President to support mandatory background checks for private, non-dealer transactions at gun shows.

AGS, which poured money into the gun show initiative campaigns in Colorado and Oregon last year, claimed in its radio commercials that “felons in 32 states can get guns at gun shows with no questions asked and resell them on our streets.”

During the 2000 election campaign, Bush said he supports requiring unlicensed gun sellers to conduct instant background checks at gun shows, but opposes the extended check of up to three days that would be required under S-747, legislation sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed (R-RI) and 18 other senators.

Under details of the plan announced by Bush and Ashcroft, the program over two years will cost $550 million, including $15.3 million to hire 113 new federal prosecutors to work full time on gun cases. Some $75 million will fund 600 new state and local gun prosecutors. That money is already in the Justice Department budget. Another $44 million would go to improve state criminal record keeping, while $28.8 million would expand and integrate federal computerized ballistic testing.

Finally, $19.1 million would expand a program by ATF aimed at preventing youths from obtaining guns.