On Wednesday Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a memo to the 94 U.S. attorneys directing them to pursue “harsh sentences” for gun crimes.
This memo comes less than two weeks after Sessions directed the Department of Justice to “increase prosecutions of gun-law violations” so criminals know they will be doing time if they use guns for crime.
According to ABC News, Sessions’ Wednesday memo instructs U.S. attorneys to use “the substantial tools at their disposal” to go after persons charged in robberies and gun crimes. And he made clear that he wanted prosecutions of violent crime in general to increase as well, writing, “I encourage you to employ the full complement of federal law to address the problem of violent crime in your district.”
Sessions pointed out that the nation has seen a surge in murders, yet “federal prosecutions for violent crimes have been declining.”
He also indicated further directions will follow that outline an approach to stronger prosecution of all crime–violent or not. This is a clear reversal of the relaxed approach to prosecution witnessed under Barack Obama.
It is interesting to note that on January 5, 2017, the NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox spoke in favor of confirming Sessions as Attorney General in part because of Sessions’ commitment to go after gun crime. Cox said:
Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch’s politicization of the Department of Justice over the last eight years will not be reversed overnight. But in Jeff Sessions, we can look forward to an attorney general who will focus the Department’s attention on prosecuting violent criminals and getting them off our streets. He will make our cities and communities safer.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.