Idaho US Attorney launches DOJ gun violence project

U.S. Attorney for Idaho Bart Davis says the Department of Justice is launching an initiative designed to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearm laws.

“Project Guardian” will include a previous “triggerlock” program, which focuses on people arrested for criminal possession of a weapon. The initiative will also use modern technology to promote gun crime intelligence.

“Reducing gun violence is of paramount importance to me and the dedicated professionals in my office,” said U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis. “This new program will complement our robust Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which has removed countless repeat, violent offenders from our streets. Guardian’s expansion to include enforcing background check systems, improving information sharing, and coordinating responses to mental health denials will ensure that far fewer Idahoans will feel the pain and loss of gun violence.”

The Department of Justice said the project is based on five principles:

1) Coordinated prosecution of new cases involved people arrested in possession of a firearm.

2) Enforcing background check systems will include creation of new guidelines for intake and prosecution of federal cases involving false statements made during the acquisition of firearms from licensed Federal Firearm dealers. It will focus on people with previous violent backgrounds.

3) Improved information sharing between Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with state fusion centers. Information about previous denials would help local and state agencies make licensing decisions.

4) Coordinated response to mental health denials will help ensure that people prohibited from possessing a firearm under a mental health prohibition are promptly submitted for case-management to help assure public safety.

5) All federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement work together to ensure effective coordination of crime gun intelligence. That would maximize the use of modern intelligence tools and technology to identify “trigger-pullers”, find their guns, and share ballistic evidence and firearm recovery data with ATF.

You can find more information about Project Guardian in this memo from Attorney General William Barr.