On Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) called for more gun control laws, like expanding background checks, and defended falling conviction rates for gun possession crimes by stating that “it is more important to go after shooters than to act like anyone who possesses a gun, but failed to get a permit to carry it, is equally dangerous.” Because most people arrested for gun possession don’t end up shooting people.
After Krasner called for more gun control laws, including expanding background checks, co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “D.A. Krasner, in the absence of legislation, what more can be done? What more could your office do? I know, in the past, Republican lawmakers have claimed some of your policies — they’re citing declining conviction rates for gun possession crimes — contributed to the rise in violent crime. Do you think your office has been as tough as it can be on those gun possession cases? And if you were tougher, would that help stem gun violence in Philadelphia?”
Krasner responded, “You know, the problem with our Republican critics is, we actually tell the truth, and we have the information to back it up. They have yet to come forward with anything that shows that our policies have endangered people in Philadelphia. The truth is, we’re extremely good at the prosecution of violent crime committed with guns. We just know that it is more important to go after shooters than to act like anyone who possesses a gun, but failed to get a permit to carry it, is equally dangerous. We did the numbers. The numbers look like this: 1 out of 100 people arrested for possession of a gun is going to turn up arrested as a shooter later, 1 out of 100. That’s different than shooters. 100 out of 100 shooters are shooters.”
He continued, “So, while it’s very important to go after illegal gun possession, and we have a bunch of hurdles, including illegal police searches due to certain policing policies and certain changes in the law, while that’s important, it is actually more important to go after people who are killing people with guns, shooting people with guns. That is what we’ve said from the beginning. The data shows we were right. The Philadelphia Police Department’s behavior, in which they have come up with a new unit to investigate shootings, shows that, at some level, they agree that there is a difference between shooters and people who possess, some of whom might be shooters, but many of whom are not.”
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