Region Tough On Firearms Violations Study Shows Eastern Washington Fourth In Nation For Prosecutions

People who commit federal firearms violations in the Eastern District of Washington are much more likely to get prosecuted than elsewhere, a private study suggests.

The district ranks fourth per capita in cases referred for prosecution between 1992 and 1995, according to the study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

The non-partisan, data-gathering organization is affiliated with Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y.

The study findings, released Saturday, suggest that Americans living in selected rural areas “are far more likely to be targets of criminal investigations” for federal firearms violations.

The district of Montana, the western district of North Carolina and the northern district of Florida ranked ahead of the Eastern District of Washington in cases per capita.

At the bottom of the study - with the fewest federal firearms cases per capita - are Chicago, Los Angeles and Newark, N.J.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Skibbie in Spokane said he couldn’t confirm the reliability of the figures used in the university study.

But the federal prosecutor confirmed that there have been a high number of firearms cases referred to the U.S. Attorney’s office since 1991.

In April 1991, the Treasury Department started “Operation Triggerlock,” a program designed to encourage federal prosecution of convicted criminals caught with firearms.

The program is intended to assist local law enforcement agencies by seeking harsh federal sentences for felons caught with firearms.

“We have aggressively prosecuted these cases,” Skibbie said.

They involve “armed career criminals” with three or more convictions for violent crimes and firearms prosecutions of people who commit violent and drug crimes.

Richard VanHaelst, a supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, also said he couldn’t confirm the statistical reliability of the study.

The ATF official said, however, that in smaller federal jurisdictions such as the Eastern District of Washington, prosecutors may sign up cases that would get passed over in larger, more populated communities.

The same is true for federal drug prosecutions, VanHaelst said.

“It’s my belief that these violent criminals have a greater impact on smaller communities than they would in larger cities,” VanHaelst said.

, DataTimes