AIM ACCURATELY

Target Enforcement Dollars to the Source

Illegal gun purchases in Cumberland County make it easier for drug
traffickers along the East Coast to kill. It's a violent business to feed,
even if unwittingly. The federal government should shut down that pipeline.

North Carolina is a source state for black market weapons, according to a
Saturday article by Observer staff writer Robert Boyer. The Fayetteville
office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
covers 14 counties and makes more arrests than any other office in the
state. This is a sign that Cumberland County is a significant supplier of
guns to criminals. Enforcement resources directed this way are taking guns
out of the hands of criminals from Fayetteville to New York City.

Slowing the supply of illegal weapons won't stop the flow of drugs into
cities. But it would make the trade less bloody. Drug-related violence
undermined public safety in U.S. cities in the early 1990s when dealer turf
wars carried over into movie theaters, shopping centers and malls until
enforcement efforts finally matched criminal firepower. Experience proves
that tough enforcement makes a difference.

But new laws aren't the answer. As the National Rifle Association and other
gun-control opponents correctly point out, we already have plenty of gun
laws on the books. But the laws are meaningless when they are not enforced.
North Carolina would make better use of funds and time in buffing up
enforcement efforts rather than in writing legislation. On the federal
level, responsible use of enforcement dollars means putting them where they
will make a difference. And that would be in gun-source states and cities,
like this one.

Fayetteville police have received a federal grant to hire a technician who
will trace guns involved in crimes. This is one more step toward shutting
down the illegal-guns pipeline. But it's not enough.

North Carolina needs more agents, more technology. If the crimes begin
here, this is where the funding should be concentrated.

New York legislators are natural allies for North Carolina in this quest.
Cutting off the flow of illegal guns from North Carolina will make New York
cities safer.

Joe Lencyzk, the agent in charge of the Fayetteville ATF office, said that
wherever illegal gun trafficking flourishes, more crime and violence are
the result. The end of this ugly trade will benefit Cumberland County, not
just New York.

Federal authorities know where the guns come from that wind up in the hands
of New York City drug dealers. Enforcement funding, spent in Cumberland
County, would be a perfectly aimed federal response to a nationwide
criminal enterprise.