US Justice Department launches strike force to fight gun crime | Coronavirus pandemic News

Gun crime continues to rise in the US as the country emerges from the COVID lockdown.

The US Department of Justice is sending a new strike force to fight the illegal arms trade, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said on Tuesday.

Emergency forces will focus on reducing violent crime by targeting activities in “major arms trade corridors” such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC, Monaco said during a Police Executive Research Forum sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum Event.

As part of this effort, Monaco said the US attorney’s offices in the targeted areas will coordinate with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to focus on “where the guns come from, where they are used in violent crimes will … and follow the entire network ”. “.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: “The division is taking another concrete step to tackle violent crime and the illicit arms trade. Our arms trafficking forces will investigate and disrupt the networks that bring criminal weapons into our communities, with tragic consequences. “

The Justice Department’s new initiative comes as President Joe Biden will address recent spikes in shootings and other violent crimes on Wednesday.

As of June 22, there had been 297 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and local police departments in some major cities across the country have reported an increase in homicides.

The rise in crime is a key concern of the population, especially in larger cities. New York City is voting in the primary for a mayor’s race today.

Leading candidates from both the Republican and Democratic Parties have expressed support for the fight against crime and increased police budgets.

Democratic leader Eric Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, blames some of the blame on anti-police slogans that have resulted in modest police budget cuts in some cities.

Adams and others say the “Defund the Police” movement has harmed law enforcement’s ability to fight crime.

Calls for “police discovery” were popular with progressives across the United States, particularly after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last June.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death in April after a year of demonstrations within the broader Black Lives Matter movement.

But criminologists and forensics researchers are not convinced. They say crime is caused by a myriad of factors. Council of Criminal Justice research specialist Ernesto Lopez told Al Jazeera that crime rates rose in 2020 before George Floyd’s death.

Former New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly speaks during a news conference on major arms trafficking cases in New York on October 12, 2012 [File: Andrew Kelly/Reuters]Biden has also enacted measures to suppress the proliferation of “ghost rifles,” which are not sold as assembled firearms but as kits that can be converted into a working weapon and are therefore not subject to the same regulations.

Later this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on whether to endorse the endorsement of David Chipman, Biden’s election as head of the alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives bureau.

The ministry plans to make additional announcements on Wednesday about how it will tackle violent crime, Monaco said.