Mayor Fenty, Governor O’Malley, PG County Executive Johnson Announce DC-MD Gun Trafficking Task Force

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson joined with local and state law enforcement officials and prosecutors to announce the District of Columbia-Maryland Gun Task Force – a regional partnership to crack down on gun-trafficking and prevent gun violence in Washington, DC and the State of Maryland.  

The Gun Trafficking Task Force represents unprecedented cooperation between federal, state and local partners in the District and Maryland, including Prince George’s County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and private partners such as Ceasefire MD and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.  

“Last year alone, 2,656 firearms were recovered in the District of Columbia, with most of those weapons being traced back to Maryland and Virginia,” said DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. “We are recovering more guns than ever before, yet there seems to be no end in sight. We are confident that this inter-jurisdictional partnership will be critical to successfully addressing the problem of illegal gun trafficking.”

“The number of firearms sold in Maryland increased by 18% from 2003 to 2006 and firearm deaths increased nearly 10%,” said Governor Martin O’Malley.  “This is simply unacceptable, and working with our partners in the District of Columbia, this regional task force will provide our state with security integration in the area of gun trafficking and give our local and state law enforcement agencies the tools and information they need to crack down on gun-trafficking.
 
Gun violence knows no boundaries, and to protect our communities from gun violence, our law enforcement agencies have to work smarter, together.”

“The continued cooperation between Prince George’s County, the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia and other surrounding jurisdictions is the best crim