COMMUNITY GROUPS, U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE FIGHT GUN CRIME

Criminals are being warned that using a firearm while committing a crime
could put them in a federal prison for the rest of their lives.

Community members and the U.S. attorney's Southern District Office have
started "Hard Time for Gun Crime," a local gun-violence reduction program
that will include billboards, community outreach and advertising to help
reduce gun crimes.

The project is a branch of the national "Protect Safe Neighborhoods"
program and is focused on Southern West Virginia.

"We don't want to have to prosecute these people," said Steven Loew, an
assistant U.S. attorney serving as the local project's director. "We're
trying to get out in the community so gun crime doesn't happen in the first
place."

At the federal level, anyone caught with a gun during certain crimes can
face a mandatory five-years-to-life prison sentence simply for possessing a
firearm. Even someone who carries a gun while he or she deals a small
amount of drugs to an undercover officer or confidential drug informant can
face up to life in federal prison.

Loew said law enforcement officers at the state and local levels will be
encouraged to contact federal prosecutors if they suspect an arrest may
rise to the level of a federal crime.

"This is not gun control or anti-gun; it's anti-crime," Loew said. "Getting
guns off the street doesn't mean you don't like guns. It means you don't
want crimes committed with guns."

Board members for the Hard Time for Gun Crime project have already met with
convicted felons to develop ideas on how to get the attention of children
who are most likely to become involved in violent crimes.

"The felons want to help," Loew said.

At least one of the group's billboards is already up on Charleston's West
Side, not far from where numerous shootings have occurred in recent months.

Kanawha Valley Regional Transport and some One Stop gas stations have
already signed up to display posters, stickers or advertisements for
project. Other businesses and community groups will also be asked to
participate.

John Chapman, founder of the Charleston Public Safety Council, is among the
project's committee members. Chapman has helped sponsor several gun buyback
programs in the area since 1994, getting hundreds of firearms off the street.

The program is sponsored by the Department of Justice.

For more information, go online to www.HardTimeforGunCrime.org.