Pete Sessions: “I could not agree more. The U.S. attorney in Philadelphia was aggressive on some of these cases, and they would make a…”

“I could not agree more. The U.S. attorney in Philadelphia was aggressive on some of these cases, and they would make a big bust with State and local law enforcement and Federal officers. The criminals did not want to go to the Federal court. They were afraid they would go there and sort them out, and the ones who had the guns would be the ones sent to Federal court, and they would get tough time. Here are some of the numbers that occurred on Project Exile. From 2000 to 2003, Federal gun crime prosecutions nationally increased 68 percent. There is this perception that Republican administrations, because they are dubious and concerned about encroaching controls on the right of lawful Americans to have guns, that they are somehow soft on gun crime, that they do not care about people being victimized by crime. Nothing could be further from the truth, as these numbers will show. From 2000 to 2003, Federal gun prosecutions increased 68 percent. Between the year 2002 and fiscal year 2003, the number of Federal firearms prosecutions nationally increased nearly 24 percent. In Colorado, for example, under their Project Exile program, Federal firearm charges between 1999 and 2003 were brought against more than 600 defendants, and in 365 of those cases that were completed, prison sentences were handed down totaling 18,671 months or 1,600 years. As these prosecutions have increased, the number of crimes where a gun is used has decreased. Surprise.…”