Mayor Keller Unveils Steps to Curb Gun Violence
June 1, 2018
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller today unveiled city initiatives to curb gun violence in Albuquerque. The plan focuses on getting violent offenders off the streets, keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, equipping law enforcement with tools to address illegal gun sales, and improving ballistics tracing. The steps are released as the country observes National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
The use of guns as a weapon in Albuquerque increased by 70 percent between 2015 and 2017, and this year about 71% of homicides involved guns.
“While we are making progress toward reducing overall crime in Albuquerque, we know guns are being used more often as a weapon of choice, and violent crime remains a pressing challenge,” Mayor Keller said. “We have to take action to reduce gun violence and keep our neighborhoods safe.”
The administration’s recent actions to address gun violence have included:
- APD prioritizing and targeting offenders with outstanding warrants who have been involved in gun crimes to get dangerous criminals off the streets;
- Encouraging responsible gun owners to not leave their guns in vehicles to prevent them from being stolen;
- Working with other law enforcement agencies on gun tracing initiatives;
- Increasing APD staffing assigned to the ATF National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to help solve gun crimes;
- Increasing utilization of APD’s Real Time Crime Center to better understand the flow and use of weapons being used in crimes;
- Inviting young people concerned about gun violence to join the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council;
- Supporting state and federal legislative efforts to require universal background checks and non-restrictive use of gun data to keep guns out of the hands of those who may cause harm to themselves or others.
Mayor Keller has also signed onto the statement of principles for the Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns and recently signed a budget for Fiscal Year 2019 that significantly increased funding for public safety.