Pa. Joins Multi-State Effort to Share Gun Crime Data

[eagleclaw]

This article from Pennlive says Wolf set up some type of database to track gun purchases in agreement with three other extremely anti gun states being NY NJ and CT. I assume this means the PA handgun sales and License to carry database will be open to them. Who knows what else. Whatever this consists of it can't be good for gun rights.

Pa. joins multi-state effort to share gun crime data: ‘We’re stronger if we move as a region’

Pointing to the uptick in gun-related crimes, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday entered into an agreement with his counterparts in three other states to share information about crime guns in an effort to enhance public safety and reduce gun violence.
The memorandum of understanding allows law enforcement agencies from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut to share crime gun data across state lines.

“The reality is that guns don’t understand the concept of state lines, but those who purchase them do,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who spearheaded the effort. “Working together we can as a region put in place the safeguards we need to combat the trade and illicit guns as we continue imploring Congress to enact strong national gun safety measures.”
The four Democratic governors held a 12-minute video news conference to announce the agreement and urged other states to join their coalition or form their own regional collaboratives to share information the FBI currently provides to individual states.

“If we want to reduce the scourge of gun violence, we have got to work together in ways that we have not before,” Wolf said. “We’ve got to work with our partners within our states and our communities, but also with each other. And I think this can be a very powerful and innovative way to approach this decision.”

During the call, Wolf shared that gun violence all across Pennsylvania rose in 2020 from the prior year. Citing statistics from the state police, he said the number of gun homicides statewide increased 48% and in Philadelphia, the number of fatal and non-fatal shootings rose by the same amount in 2020 from 2019.

He attributed that, at least in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said people were forced to stay apart and that stripped away support networks and safety nets that “caused increasing stress, anxiety, fear and clearly anger.”

“Gun violence cuts right to the heart of our communities, tearing families apart. It sows fear. It sows distrust,” Wolf said.
What’s more, it impacts communities of color disproportionately, he said. In 2020, 67.5% of gun homicide victims in Pennsylvania were Black, even though Black Pennsylvanians make up just 12% of the total population.
New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul called the memorandum transformative and a model for the rest of the nation.
“I believe this is going to give us and our law enforcement entities in each of our states the tools we need to be able to trace guns that are coming from other states to understand when a crime has been committed,” she said. “If Congress would simply allow us to share this nationally, what a better place we would be.”

Connecticut’s Gov. Ned Lamont said he sees this database as helping police track guns back to where they originate, find commonalities and find out who is pushing these guns on to the streets. Murphy said many of the crime guns coming into his state from out of state mostly come from the south, namely Florida, Georgia and South Carolina “where weak gun laws are ripe for exploitation.”
“Despite our best gun safety laws, we have more damn guns in the streets than we ever had before,” Lamont said. “If you’re not taking guns seriously, you’re not taking law and order seriously.”

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro, among others, applauded this regional approach to attempting to close the pipeline of guns used in crimes.

“We know that sharing information works,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Two years after we launched Track + Trace, police are able to identify a record number of crime guns, allowing investigators to go after the source and help prevent shootings. This memorandum will help ensure we can continue our work. Gun trafficking does not respect state lines, and we must collaborate beyond our borders to stop it.”
CeaseFirePA executive director Adam Garber said this agreement will bring law enforcement agencies closer together to close off illegal firearms that are fueling violence.

“Each trafficker shutdown is another life saved, another safer community that will remain unscarred,” Garber said in a statement. “While ultimately we need the General Assembly to enact policies that will strengthen law enforcement’s approach, such as requiring the reporting of lost or stolen firearms, Governor Wolf’s actions today move us closer to a commonwealth where residents can live free from the horrific effects of gun violence.”
Kris Brown, president of Brady, a national organization aimed at reducing gun violence, also praised the move, calling it “a historic regional data sharing agreement, and one that will tangibly help to reduce gun violence in the northeast and beyond.”
But Kim Stolfer, state president of Firearms Owners Against Crime, sees it as another tool that law enforcement will use to harass citizens who have a license to carry. Stolfer said it already happens as a result of the state police’s sharing of data about Pennsylvania’s registered gun owners with law enforcement in other states.

“I have a great deal of concern considering the track record of other states’ way of harassing people they perceive as gun owners and having a gun,” he said. “They interlink the license plate with the database and the names and people are harassed who are simply exercising their constitutional right.”

Stolfer suggests there are better approaches that work to reduce gun violence, including cracking down harder on illegal gun trafficking and individuals who commit crimes with illegal guns.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/1...-a-region.html

[RockIsland]

Yes, it was covid that led to the increase in murders and violent crimes.

It had nothing to do with letting violent felons out of jail, not prosecuting criminals, and letting everyone go free without bail.

[Walleye Hunter]

Yes, it was covid that led to the increase in murders and violent crimes.

It had nothing to do with letting violent felons out of jail, not prosecuting criminals, and letting everyone go free without bail.

If you didn’t see last week’s Blue Bloods, you should see if you can find it and watch it. It was good to finally see a show where they drove that message home.

[Pag23]

Unbelievable.....

[mikelets456]

My goodness I really hate these lying POS Marxists.

[arandy]

I'd like to see the data on violent crimes committed with legally bought and owned firearms ... can't seem to find any

[Spaceballs]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe Tom Wolf is legally allowed to be in possession of specific firearms ownership information in the state of Pennsylvania.

"The states plan to share details they get from the ATF through "eTrace" reports that show who first bought and sold guns recovered during criminal investigations."

[William Blake]

"Pointing to the uptick in gun-related crimes, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday entered into an agreement with his counterparts in three other states to share information about crime guns in an effort to enhance public safety and reduce gun violence."...
"Gun violence* is a token term for black on black crime.It*s the city, state and news reporter means to bury a statistic.

[Bang]

Social warriors have speculated that the average ghetto teen believes he won't live past several more years, breeding an attitude, "it don't matter what I do. I'm gonna get mine while I can, and if I shoot first, maybe I'll live a little longer".

Living on the wrong block and belonging to the wrong gang is an ever-present danger. It's tribalism...something parent(s) and educators should be addressing.

Study where the guns come from all they want, all they (governments) will document is their own failings to the point where they will begin to cover up, (again).

[gghbi]

See it/read it here: https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-conte...e-Data-MOU.pdf
It is an image, so cannot copy paste text...