Feds vow to take gun cases to U.S. District Court to curb violence this summer in Michigan
LANSING — Federal, state and local authorities said they aim to curb gun violence by shifting certain gun possession cases to federal court.
"The evil of gun violence in our communities cannot continue," U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said Thursday, adding that he wanted to alert "everyone in the community who unlawfuly possesses a gun or is willing to commit a crime by pulling a trigger, we will not hesitate to prosecute you federally."
Totten, the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Michigan, said his office will prosecute anyone who is caught illegally possessing a weapon that ballistic evidence has linked to a prior shooting crime.
Penalties vary, but it's not unusual for federal court sentences to be three to four times longer than those in state court, he said.
The "Safe Summer 2023" initiative runs through the end of September and is a cooperative effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, said Totten, who announced the program Thursday during a series of news conferences in four Michigan cities, including Lansing.
It was timed to coincide with the start of summer, when shooting crimes typically peak, and kicks off during a week in which one person was stabbed and two people were shot in the Lansing area.
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Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth, Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane and Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee were among those standing with Totten at Lansing City Hall.
"We all know the accused in one (shooting) case is the victim in the next," Sosebee said. "Our message today is, we will hold criminals accountable for gun violence."
Wriggelsworth said bad actors are using gun violence "to right a perceived wrong," be that "a dirty look" or "a stupid social media post," among other things.
Totten said he is prepared to add "additional resources" to aid in prosecuting gun crimes, but it was unclear whether the initiative will cause more firearms to be submitted for ballistics testing or how many cases might be shifted to federal court because of it.
"While we'll never prosecute our way out of this epidemic − and wrap-around prevention programs are important − we must hold violent offenders accountable for their callous actions," Totten said in a news release.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Prosecutors vow to take cases to federal court to curb gun violence
