http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/21/waging_a_gun_battle/
WAGING A GUN BATTLE
By Globe columnist Adrian Walker
Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty and Police Commissioner Edward Davis seem to have a fundamental disagreement about a fundamental issue: How to get handguns off the street.
Today Flaherty will propose upping the penalties for being caught with a concealed weapon in one's home or workplace. Carrying a concealed weapon to work is illegal already - just in case you were wondering - but the penalties, by Flaherty's reckoning, aren't severe enough.
The bill being filed is narrowly crafted enough, but Flaherty makes it clear that he believes the city's approach needs to be rethought. "There are homes in our neighborhoods that've become safe havens for guns," he declared yesterday. He said the city has created a "disincentive" for criminals to stop carrying weapons, by punishing such crimes too leniently. Under his home rule petition, which would require legislative approval, concealed weapons in the home would carry the same mandatory sentence as concealed weapons on the street, 18 months.
His notion of how to address the gun problem is the opposite of the approach advocated by the Police Department, which launched the Safe Homes Initiative earlier this year in an effort to encourage people to voluntarily turn in the guns in their homes. Under the program, residents voluntarily approve searches of their homes with the understanding that no charges will be filed if guns are found. So far, three people have taken advantage of the opportunity.
"We wanted to make it available to parents as an alternative," said Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Whether or not the program is right for them needs to be their decision."
Flaherty points to the shooting last summer of 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson as part of his inspiration. Jefferson was shot by a gun belonging to an older half-brother, who tragically left the weapon where two small children could get it. Jayquan McConnico, 16, has been committed to the Department of Youth Services until his 21st birthday.
Flaherty argues that the Safe Homes Initiative has been a bust. Obviously, not many people have been willing to turn in their weapons voluntarily. Also, Flaherty, a former prosecutor, thinks the whole notion of warrantless searches is legally misguided. Driscoll says the program is simply part of the department's strategy for dealing with guns, not the sum of it.
This could well be a battle between two ineffective ideas. But it reflects the confusion over how to deal with the gun problem that everyone agrees is central to the crime problem. Encouraging people to turn in their guns hasn't worked. But stiffer penalties won't necessarily work, either.
A city that once congratulated itself on figuring out how to reduce crime has discovered that it never really figured out anything. The notion of some clergy-police alliance ending the crime problem seems quaint now. Community policing hasn't stopped the shooting in Roxbury and Dorchester. So the answer is to crack down on concealed weapons at work?
The legislation probably won't get far in the short term. The Legislature regards home rule petitions as a low priority because, by definition, they don't affect most lawmakers or their constituents. Throw in a fiscal crisis that'll consume the State House for the foreseeable future and this seems certain to languish. At any rate, there's no evidence that stiffer penalties for concealed weapons will make a dent in the real problem, which is the ready availability of weapons.
Flaherty has auditioned a number of public safety ideas as he tries to find a message for his likely run for mayor next year. In that context, it may not really matter to him whether his ideas really come to fruition.
Unfortunately, the problem deserves more than posturing. Three children were shot outside their Roxbury housing development Saturday in the kind of attack that's become considerably less shocking than it used to be, victims of an all to common form of handgun violence. Government should have more to offer them than a battle of stale ideas.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. he can be reached at [email protected]
WAGING A GUN BATTLE
By Globe columnist Adrian Walker
Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty and Police Commissioner Edward Davis seem to have a fundamental disagreement about a fundamental issue: How to get handguns off the street.
Today Flaherty will propose upping the penalties for being caught with a concealed weapon in one's home or workplace. Carrying a concealed weapon to work is illegal already - just in case you were wondering - but the penalties, by Flaherty's reckoning, aren't severe enough.
The bill being filed is narrowly crafted enough, but Flaherty makes it clear that he believes the city's approach needs to be rethought. "There are homes in our neighborhoods that've become safe havens for guns," he declared yesterday. He said the city has created a "disincentive" for criminals to stop carrying weapons, by punishing such crimes too leniently. Under his home rule petition, which would require legislative approval, concealed weapons in the home would carry the same mandatory sentence as concealed weapons on the street, 18 months.
His notion of how to address the gun problem is the opposite of the approach advocated by the Police Department, which launched the Safe Homes Initiative earlier this year in an effort to encourage people to voluntarily turn in the guns in their homes. Under the program, residents voluntarily approve searches of their homes with the understanding that no charges will be filed if guns are found. So far, three people have taken advantage of the opportunity.
"We wanted to make it available to parents as an alternative," said Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Whether or not the program is right for them needs to be their decision."
Flaherty points to the shooting last summer of 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson as part of his inspiration. Jefferson was shot by a gun belonging to an older half-brother, who tragically left the weapon where two small children could get it. Jayquan McConnico, 16, has been committed to the Department of Youth Services until his 21st birthday.
Flaherty argues that the Safe Homes Initiative has been a bust. Obviously, not many people have been willing to turn in their weapons voluntarily. Also, Flaherty, a former prosecutor, thinks the whole notion of warrantless searches is legally misguided. Driscoll says the program is simply part of the department's strategy for dealing with guns, not the sum of it.
This could well be a battle between two ineffective ideas. But it reflects the confusion over how to deal with the gun problem that everyone agrees is central to the crime problem. Encouraging people to turn in their guns hasn't worked. But stiffer penalties won't necessarily work, either.
A city that once congratulated itself on figuring out how to reduce crime has discovered that it never really figured out anything. The notion of some clergy-police alliance ending the crime problem seems quaint now. Community policing hasn't stopped the shooting in Roxbury and Dorchester. So the answer is to crack down on concealed weapons at work?
The legislation probably won't get far in the short term. The Legislature regards home rule petitions as a low priority because, by definition, they don't affect most lawmakers or their constituents. Throw in a fiscal crisis that'll consume the State House for the foreseeable future and this seems certain to languish. At any rate, there's no evidence that stiffer penalties for concealed weapons will make a dent in the real problem, which is the ready availability of weapons.
Flaherty has auditioned a number of public safety ideas as he tries to find a message for his likely run for mayor next year. In that context, it may not really matter to him whether his ideas really come to fruition.
Unfortunately, the problem deserves more than posturing. Three children were shot outside their Roxbury housing development Saturday in the kind of attack that's become considerably less shocking than it used to be, victims of an all to common form of handgun violence. Government should have more to offer them than a battle of stale ideas.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. he can be reached at [email protected]
