<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton will propose $280 million in new government spending to hire federal agents to track down gun-wielding criminals and prosecutors to put them behind bars, the White House said on Tuesday.
Clinton is traveling to Boston, where local officials have cracked down on violent crime in recent years, to announce the proposal, which will be sent to the Republican-led Congress on Feb. 7 as part of his annual budget request.
The plan includes hiring 500 new agents and inspectors at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, doubling the ranks of ATF agents targeting violent gun criminals and illegal gun traffickers.
The White House said Clinton was seeking $150 million to hire 1,000 new state and local prosecutors as well as money to hire 100 federal prosecutors to focus on gun crimes.
Clinton will also propose tripling funding for ballistics testing by earmarking $30 million to create a national system linking the separate computer systems for ballistics tracing operated by the ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
His proposal would also put $10 million toward local media campaigns on gun violence and gun safety and an equal amount to develop ``smart'' guns that can only be fired by their owners.
The president plans to outline the proposal in a speech in Boston's gritty Roxbury neighborhood, where he will also call on the Congress to revive gun-control legislation that died last year.
Having failed to pass legislation after April's massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, Congress is unlikely to do so in an election year. Clinton's emphasis appears designed more to provide an issue for his fellow Democrats to run on than to actually achieve congressional legislation.
The Senate passed a bill requiring background checks for weapon purchases at guns shows after the killings at Columbine, where two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before committing suicide, but similar legislation failed in the House of Representatives.
Despite the low chances of congressional action ahead of November's presidential election, the White House said Clinton would again call for requiring child safety locks for handguns, banning the import of large capacity ammunition clips and barring violent juveniles from owning guns for life.
Clinton is scheduled to speak at a political fund-raising dinner on Tuesday evening before returning to Washington.[/quote]
[This message has been edited by DHH (edited January 18, 2000).]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton will propose $280 million in new government spending to hire federal agents to track down gun-wielding criminals and prosecutors to put them behind bars, the White House said on Tuesday.
Clinton is traveling to Boston, where local officials have cracked down on violent crime in recent years, to announce the proposal, which will be sent to the Republican-led Congress on Feb. 7 as part of his annual budget request.
The plan includes hiring 500 new agents and inspectors at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, doubling the ranks of ATF agents targeting violent gun criminals and illegal gun traffickers.
The White House said Clinton was seeking $150 million to hire 1,000 new state and local prosecutors as well as money to hire 100 federal prosecutors to focus on gun crimes.
Clinton will also propose tripling funding for ballistics testing by earmarking $30 million to create a national system linking the separate computer systems for ballistics tracing operated by the ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
His proposal would also put $10 million toward local media campaigns on gun violence and gun safety and an equal amount to develop ``smart'' guns that can only be fired by their owners.
The president plans to outline the proposal in a speech in Boston's gritty Roxbury neighborhood, where he will also call on the Congress to revive gun-control legislation that died last year.
Having failed to pass legislation after April's massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, Congress is unlikely to do so in an election year. Clinton's emphasis appears designed more to provide an issue for his fellow Democrats to run on than to actually achieve congressional legislation.
The Senate passed a bill requiring background checks for weapon purchases at guns shows after the killings at Columbine, where two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before committing suicide, but similar legislation failed in the House of Representatives.
Despite the low chances of congressional action ahead of November's presidential election, the White House said Clinton would again call for requiring child safety locks for handguns, banning the import of large capacity ammunition clips and barring violent juveniles from owning guns for life.
Clinton is scheduled to speak at a political fund-raising dinner on Tuesday evening before returning to Washington.[/quote]
[This message has been edited by DHH (edited January 18, 2000).]
