Committee Hearing, April 29, 1998

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN RESOURCES - - - Magee Rehabilitation Hospital Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, April 29, 1998 9:10 a.m. - - - RES. 980124 - Calling on Council's Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold public hearings to examine initiatives Philadelphia can implement to limit youth access to guns which will reduce the enormous health and social costs of gun violence. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN HAPPY FERNANDEZ COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center Plaza, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 I N D E X RESOLUTION 980124 PAGE Edward G. Rendell, Mayor, City of Philadelphia- Richard Zipelli, Deputy Mayor, Gun Violence---- 18 Michael DiBerardinis, Commissioner, Recreation Department---------------------------------- 33 Lita Indzel Cohen, State Representative-------- 71 Estelle B. Richman, Commissioner, Health Department---------------------------------- 77 Dr. Paul Fink, Chair, Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Youth Fatality Review Committee------------------------------------ 83 Don Kauder, Vice Chief, Division of Traumatology, University of Pennsylvania------------------- 90 Andrew Wiggelsworth, President/CEO, Delaware Valley Health Care Council------------------- 97 Mark Chilutti, Gunshot Victim------------------- 104 Joe Davis, Gunshot Victim----------------------- 110 Loretta McLaughlin, Executive Vice President/COO, Magee---------------------------------------- 118 Tom Stankiewicz, Supervisory Special Agent, ATF- 126 Huntley Palmer, Chief, Firearms & Arson, US Attorney's Office---------------------------- 145 Lynne Abraham, District Attorney, City of Philadelphia--------------------------------- 157 C. Darnell Jones, II, Managing Judge, Adult Probation and Parole------------------------- 169 Paul P. Panepinto, Administrative Judge, Family Court---------------------------------------- 176 Rosemary Matthews, Community Organizer, PCCY---- 189 Danista E. Hunte, Program Officer/Research Associate, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation---------------------------------- 195 - - - 3 RESOLUTION 980124

Good morning. I would like to call to order the hearings of the City Council Committee on Health and Human Services. My name is Councilwoman Happy Fernandez. I am chairing these hearings in the absence of the committee's Chair, Councilwoman Tasco, who was called out of town. These hearings are dealing with the issue of youth violence, particularly youth gun violence, and looking at the question of how can we prevent youth access to guns, and how can we prevent further victimization of our young people, and how can we protect our young people from gun violence in the city. This is the third of a series of three hearings dealing with prevention of youth violence. The first hearing, held in December, looked at the issue of afterschool child care as one of the ways to prevent afterschool crime. Because as everyone knows, o'clock in the afternoon is the prime time for juvenile crime. The second in the series dealt with RESOLUTION 980124 the issue of truancy. And the question was, how can we get our young people back into school and keep them out of crime and mischief and vandalism during school hours. This is the third in that series, and looks directly at the issue of access to guns and the effect of gun violence on our young people. So this is Council Resolution No. 10 980124. And I would like to call on my staff person, Beth Moy Jang to read the title of the resolution.

Resolution No. 980124, calling on City Council's Committee on Public Health and Human Services to hold public hearings to examine initiatives Philadelphia can implement to limit youth access to guns, which will reduce the enormous health and social costs of gun violence.

Thank you. We are holding these hearings in the Health and Human Services Committee because we see the epidemic of gun violence in our city as a health crisis in our city. Our young people are victims of gun violence, and our young people are all too often the 5 RESOLUTION 980124 victimizers of others in our city by using guns. And this gun violence is reeking havoc on our families, on our neighborhoods, on our whole city. So as many have said, enough is enough. Enough already. We all as the adults in this city need to find ways to keep guns out of the hands of young people and protect our young people from gun violence in this city. In 1995, 97 young people under the age of were murdered by gunfire in the city, and 13 250 young people a year are hospitalized as victims 14 of gun violence. So our young people are both 15 victims and victimizers. 16 How do our young people get their 17 hands on guns? As we all know, it is illegal for 18 young people to purchase guns, to carry guns, to use 19 guns. Yet last year alone, 99 young people were 20 arrested for carrying weapons. 21 And we will hear later in the hearings what is being done to help and rehabilitate those young people. These hearings today are to focus especially on what people here in the city are doing 6 RESOLUTION 980124 about gun violence. So we are here to focus on what are some things that are already being done, and then what needs to be done over this next year and over the years to come to start to reduce the pain and violence and suffering and damage to so many lives due to gun violence in our city. We will also look at our state gun laws, which are far too permissive. And we will hear testimony about one proposal that is now before the State legislature labeled as One Gun A Month, which, as you will hear, is sort of hard to comprehend, why we would need to restrict people to buying one gun a month. But we can hear that story later. So I would like to convenient these hearings and lead off with our Mayor, who has been a strong leader and has really been raising this issue publicly here in the city and all over the country with his speech in Washington. And we would like to invite Mayor Ed Rendell to lead off with his testimony.

Thank you, Councilwoman Fernandez. And let me start out by 7 RESOLUTION 980124 commending the committee for having these series of hearings. Because nothing debilitates a city more, and nothing zaps the energy and the spirit of a city and the neighborhoods in those city than violence in general. And that is particularly keen when that violence is either perpetrated by young people or when they are the victims of that violence. And clearly things have to be done. The city is approaching this problem at many different levels. I have with me on my right, Richard Zipelli, Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, who, as you know, is now on loan to the Mayor's Office, serving as a Deputy Mayor for Gun Violence. That is just an example of how serious I think this is. We have taken one of our most talented leaders in the Police Department and put him in charge of all the comprehensive law enforcement initiatives, both those that the department is taking on its own and those that the department is taking with the federal government and with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 8 RESOLUTION 980124 And Deputy Commissioner Zipelli, Deputy Mayor Zipelli, will testify as to what the extent and level of those police initiatives are. To my left, of course, is our great Recreation Commissioner, Mike DiBerardinis, joined by our Health Commissioner, Estelle Richman. Mike will testify as to an outreach program that the Recreation Department, with the coordination with the Health Department, is going to take to try to reach young people over the summer and try to convince them that gun violence is counter-productive for them in so many different ways, because it destroys their neighborhood, because it accomplishes nothing, because it jeopardizes their lives and future. And the campaign is, I think. A very interesting one. And the tag line of the campaign is going to be "Who Are You Shooting At," to try to get young people to think about what they are doing. They are shooting at someone who is a mirror image of themselves because they had an argument over a girl or because they had an argument over a basketball game, or they're shooting at a 9 RESOLUTION 980124 store owner who may be someone who provides credit to their grandmother, when their grandmother can't immediately pay bills for food. I mean, it is important to get our young people to think about the consequences of gun violence before they get involved in it. And I think the Who Are You Shooting At campaign will be very successful. And Mr. DiBerardinis will take a few minutes to discuss that, as part of my testimony, if it's all right. But let me say that the statistics are abundantly clear for the need for hearings such as, or a series of hearings such as, you have embarked on. The statistics are indeed chilling. As you indicated, they exist, and they are getting worse. Between 1985 and 1995, deaths by firearms in this city rose by 102 percent. 102 percent. In 1995, as recently as 1995, we had 432 homicides. 77 percent of them were as a result of gun violence. Last year, homicides dropped to 410, but 83 percent of them were by gun violence. 10 RESOLUTION 980124 It is a shocking and alarming statistic that guns are responsible for more and more of the homicides that we have in Philadelphia, higher percentage and a higher raw number. And these statistics, the percentage of homicides committed by use of firearms, are the highest of any large city in the nation. Secondly, as you pointed out very succinctly in your opening remarks, what is particularly troubling about this very troubling statistic is that kids are killing kids. In the last three years, almost 14 percent of the homicides by gun were perpetrated by 15 someone under 18 years of age who pulled the trigger. And the kids are the victims, too. In the last three years, 24, 25, and victims of 19 homicides by firearm have been under the age of 18.

20 And as you know, of course, homicide 21 is the leading cause of death among our young people 22 between the ages of 16 and 21 here in Philadelphia. 23 The carnage that gun violence is 24 causing, though, is not just limited to homicide. 25 In Philadelphia, in 1997, we had over 11 RESOLUTION 980124 11,900 robberies. 53 percent of them were committed at the point of a gun, and one-third of those gun-point robberies were committed by children under the age of 18. In 1997, we had 6,198 aggravated assaults at the point of a gun. 2279, 36 percent of the 6,198, were committed at the point of a gun. There were 6,198 aggravated assaults, and 36 percent were at the point of a gun. 11 percent of those were committed by juveniles. 12 To give you just an example of some 13 of the things that have occurred, in the last week 14 of February, the headlines in our newspapers and the 15 TV and radio reports indicated a record eight 16 shooting deaths in that week, including five in one 17 weekend alone. And those were only deaths. As you recall, the most memorable of those was the horrible incident that took place outside the Palestra after the city basketball championship, where a 22-year-old was killed and three others were gunned down by young people. At the same time, during that weekend, two owners of a pizzeria were shot dead in their store. An elderly woman was shot to death in 12 RESOLUTION 980124 a robbery of her home. And a lawyer and the lawyer's assistant were robbed and executed by being shot in the head in a downtown Philadelphia office. It all took place from Friday to Sunday. And that was not, unfortunately, a week that was an aberration. The last two weeks of March we saw 6 homicides by gun, 178 robberies at the point of a gun, 70 aggravated assaults involving the use of a gun, and 67 arrests for violation of the Uniformed Firearms Act. So it is fair to say that the violence that is afflicting this city and other cities around the country is being driven by firearms. No if's, and's, and but's about it. Firearms are the crux of our problem with violent crime, whether it be homicide, robbery, or aggravated assault. Now, when you talk about the need for action and the need to control somehow the flow of weapons, the opponents would always say, well, you are doing the wrong thing. You are not concentrating on the real problem. The real problem isn't guns; it is the people who use guns. 13 RESOLUTION 980124 Well, when I spoke to the gun manufacturers, I outlined -- and I just want to touch briefly on the things we have done both in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to deal with what they consider the real problem. First, as early as 1977, my first year as District Attorney, we wrote out of Philadelphia County the death penalty statute that was adopted by the legislature, and has withstood constitutional challenge, and that is starting to be used in this state with some level of frequency. So we have a death penalty, it is starting to be applied, and that was considered to be an important step. In 1982, I authored as District Attorney a mandatory minimum sentence law for people who use firearms to commit felonies in this state. We passed that legislation, we actually raised money to promote it. I don't know if you recall the ad campaigns with Jack Palance saying, "Five years. No parole. No probation. " We have a tough mandatory sentencing, and that's a minimum sentence. The judges are free 14 RESOLUTION 980124 to give more, but they can't give less than five years. Thirdly, we have increased our prison capacity dramatically in the State of Pennsylvania. And, fourthly, we are giving out both in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania more convictions and longer sentences. In 1997 here in Philadelphia, convictions for gun offenses doubled. Jail sentences jumped 120 percent for people who used firearms to commit crimes. And, overall, this is a stunning statistic.

And, overall, the number of inmates in Pennsylvania increased by 30 percent from 1993 to 1996. We had 26,000 people in the state penitentiaries. And, as you are all aware, that's where people who are sentenced to more than two years go. We had 26,000 in 1993. In 1996, we have 34,000. That is an increase of 30 percent in a four-year period. And the significant numbers, close to a majority of those people, are people sentenced out 15 RESOLUTION 980124 of the Philadelphia courts. So when you think about it, we have a death penalty law that's not only on the books, but is beginning to be applied. We have mandatory minimum prison sentences for people who use firearms. We are convicting more people who use firearms and offenses. We are sentencing them to longer periods of time. We are incarcerating infinitely more of them. And it hasn't worked. It hasn't worked. So the things that the advocates who oppose gun control measures say that we should be doing, we have been doing. We have been doing them for decades plus, and it hasn't worked. That is very, very important. Back in 1995, as Senator Vincent Fumo addressed the problem of multiple sales, and as we all know, the basic way that firearms wind up in the hands of young people in the city is through multiple sales. There are other avenues, for sure. Thefts, things like this. But the vast majority of firearms used by young people in crimes come from 16 RESOLUTION 980124 multiple sales. And I know all of you are familiar with what I'm talking about. But just to be clear for the record, a multiple sale is where someone who legally has the right to buy a firearm from a retail firearm store goes in and buys multiple guns, 6, 10, 14, whatever. They take those guns and bring them into neighborhoods in our city where there are high crime rates, and they sell those guns. They will make now two, three, even four times the retail price, depending on the gun that they have chosen. This is particularly so with the new crime of choice by young people and adults alike, automatic pistols. Revolvers are no longer the crime gun of choice, but automatic pistols are the crime gun of choice. And they will go for two, three, four times on the street. So someone who purchases 14 guns can make several thousand dollars by reselling them out of the back of a car to, basically, young people in the City of Philadelphia or to drug dealers who then, in turn, distribute them to young people to do their business. 17 RESOLUTION 980124 I am going to allow Commissioner Zipelli to give you just an idea of what the police, in conjunction with ATF, have been doing to track those sales. And we have been doing better. We have been doing better. Senator Fumo tried to address this problem, to his credit. And he passed legislation in 1995 which basically allows law enforcement to charge someone who does that type of sale with being an accessory to whatever crime the young person does. So if that young person takes that firearm and goes out in a robbery shoots and kills a store owner, they will, in fact, be charged with being an accessory to murder. And it was a terrific effort by Senator Fumo. And he deserves a tremendous amount of praise for trying to address this problem. And, as you all know, Senator Fumo is a gun collector. But he realized the problem with multiple sales, and he tried in this method to help us. It has not worked. It has not worked for two reasons. And, number one, because it is 18 RESOLUTION 980124 very difficult to prove that John Jones, a young person years of age, obtained his gun from that 4 reputable citizen, Peter Parker, who has no record, 5 and he can go into the gun store and buy 12 guns at 6 a time. 7 The reason being, unless we turn John 8 Jones as a witness against Peter Parker, there is no 9 way of proving it. And what we would be doing is 10 making a deal with the murderer to testify against 11 someone who gave them a gun, and that's not likely 12 to happen.

13 All Peter Parker has to do, when 14 evidence is found that John Jones used a gun that he 15 bought from a retail store, all he can do is throw 16 up his hands and say, geez, I lost it, or it was stolen from the trunk of my car, or it was stolen from the house. Why didn't you report it to the police? Well, everyone knows the police can't do anything about thefts from autos, so I didn't report it. Bingo. It's difficult. But even if we were able to do that, there is a second problem with the statute. And the courts have been reluctant to convict because the 19 RESOLUTION 980124 requirement of a statute to do so, the Commonwealth must prove that when Peter Parker sold the gun to teenager John Jones, he knowingly and intentionally did so, and he had reason to believe that the firearm was intended to be used in a crime. John Jones could just say he knew that selling it to a young person -- first of all, how do we prove that he knew that John Jones was a juvenile, as opposed to or 19? 11 But, secondly, even if that's the 12 case, how do we prove that John Jones just didn't 13 say, Mister, it is tough out here, I need this gun 14 to protect my grandmother. 15 So Senator Fumo's intentions were 16 terrific. And he deserves an enormous amount of 17 credit for being the first person who tried to deal 18 with multiple sales. But it is simply ineffective. It doesn't work. Now, that is not only my opinion, but as Commissioner Zipelli will tell you, it is the opinion of the ATF, as well, because they try to make these cases. Where the ATF is very successful is in those occasions where they can track the multiple 20 RESOLUTION 980124 seller and catch the multiple seller in the act of selling those guns. That's where they are enormously effective, not under the accessory statute. But, again, as you can imagine, even though the ATF and the Police Task Force even though they are doing a much better job and the statistic are up, they are not coming close to dealing with all the people who get involved with multiple sales. So these are the things we have tried already. We have not thrown up our hands and done nothing. We have taken the steps that the gun control activists want us to take, and they haven't worked. That's very important to understand. Because it is not like we are weak on sentencing. It is not like we don't have tough laws. It is not like we are not convicting. It is not like we are not sentencing people to prison for long periods of time. We are doing that, and we still have statistics that are reaching up and up. So it is very important to understand. 21 RESOLUTION 980124 Now, even having said all the things we have tried here in Philadelphia -- and because of the Sterling Act that there is a limit to what we can do, as you know -- we lost our ability to regulate who can carry firearms in the City of Philadelphia. Our statute was pre-empted. I just want to note for the record that in the State of New Jersey -- a much more urban state than the State of Pennsylvania -- in the State of New Jersey, there were 25,000 handguns sold in 1997. The total carry permits for guns in New Jersey were 2700. In the State of Pennsylvania, there were 150,000 handguns sold in 1997, and the total carry permits for guns was 575,000, because that goes to handguns are, of course, bought more. 6. 8. And I don't think that is a coincidence. But, as I said, we have continued to make efforts, which I have, with the panel's indulgence, delineated for you now. We have continued to make efforts. 22 RESOLUTION 980124 I will turn it over to the Commissioner Zipelli, who will give you a brief four or five minutes on our current initiatives, along with ATF. Then we will do Commissioner DiBerardinis and Commissioner Richmond, if they want to add something about the plan we are going to do this summer. S. , last week. So with your permission, Madam Chairwoman, Commissioner Zipelli, Deputy Mayor Zipelli, and then Commissioner DiBerardinis.

Before we go to Deputy Commissioner Zipelli, I would like to introduce other members of Council who are here for these hearings. Councilwoman Anna Verna, Councilman Rick Mariano, Councilman Frank DiCicco. I would also like to thank Magee Rehab Center, that so graciously is hosting us 23 RESOLUTION 980124 today. We thought with some of the people who have been patients here, able to testify, it dramatizes the human toll and cost of gun violence. But I want to, again, personally thank Magee Rehab for hosting this event today. One of the nice things is, in Council, the chambers are so huge, the witnesses are, you know, half of a football field away. Right here you are right in our face. So there is no 12 reason not to really hear very clearly what all the witnesses are saying.

I always wanted to be that close to Mike DiBerardinis.

So Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Zipelli. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: Thank you, ma'am.

Formally identify yourself for the record. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER RICHARD ZIPELLI: My name is Richard Zipelli, Deputy Mayor for Gun Violence. As the Mayor mentioned about store 24 RESOLUTION 980124 purchases and some of the problems that the Police Department and ATF have in dealing with store purchases, I want to go into very basically and briefly some of the enforcement strategies that the Philadelphia Police Department, under the command of Commissioner Timoney, has enacted over the past several months. Number one, we have looked at gun crimes as a strategic problem, rather than an isolated incident. In the, past police departments -- and this is universal, not just for Philadelphia -- they have looked at gun crime as one incident, one crime. Let's take it to court, let's plea bargain let's see what type of sentence this person can get. However, now we started looking at taking a strategic approach to guns, all guns are related. What we do now is track guns to the point of origin. There are some very sophisticated programs. When ATF gets up here, they will go into detail about what they are doing. 25 RESOLUTION 980124 Let me say for the record that the relationship between the Philadelphia Police Department and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Unit in Philadelphia is the greatest of any place in this country. I was just down to Washington. I met with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. They are modeling some of their training programs after the programs that we are running in Philadelphia. So we are very happy about that. Anyway, we are looking at guns and criminals as part of a more strategic plan, rather than isolated incidents. Historically when homicide detectives would investigate a homicide, they would be very focused on that homicide, and wouldn't look at the bigger picture. We are now focusing our efforts on why was this person killed, was it part of a larger network, was it for drug-related defenses, was it because there was a drug deal that went bad. So we are linking these things. The same thing with aggravated assault. We are looking at that. We are putting RESOLUTION 980124 the same amount of investigative effort into aggravated assaults as we put into homicides now. Frequently many people who are victims of aggravated assaults will not talk to us. They will say they will take care of it themself, or they will give us misleading information. The Police Department has pumped up those investigations to find out who they are, where they live, where the gun came from, recovery of the gun. So it is a strategic plan that attacks the gun problem with an overall strategy, rather than just an isolated incident. What we are doing right now is a standard interview protocol. We get somebody in for a gun pinch, what we're doing is interviewing that person and again asking them where the gun came from. What we have done is put all gun-related violence together. As the Mayor mentioned, he put me in charge as Deputy Mayor for Gun Violence. But I also have a captain now who brought together all of our gun-fighting efforts under a single command. 27 RESOLUTION 980124 This doesn't mean that the cops on the street aren't making gun pinches. What it means is the investigative effort for gun violations are now very coordinated. Everything flows back to ATF. ATF will track those weapons, the information on those weapons. We will interview, we will debrief everyone who has been brought in in any division for a gun violation. And even if they only give us partial information, where did you get the gun, well, I got it on the highway at 13th and Berks, from a guy named Pudgy, that's entered into our database, and it is fitted in with other pieces of information we get from around the city, enabling us to go after the store purchasers. In Philadelphia, you can buy as many guns as you want, and you can avoid the Brady waiting period if you have a Permit to Carry. That is one of our biggest problems.

And ATF will explain the vague areas of the Brady bill. Timely serving of warrants on violent suspects and the apprehension of violent offenders who fail to appear in court. 28 RESOLUTION 980124 There is a world of approximately 50,000 warrants out there for about 40,000 people. We have begun a very intensive program. I don't want to mention all the investigative efforts we have made, but let's just say they are innovative about going after people who are wanted on the most egregious of warrants. We work very closely with the First Judicial Direct in getting the most egregious roughly four to five hundred of those warrants, murder, rape, robbery involving a firearm, and we are now actively pursuing these people. We are using quality of life funds to go after them. We are using every innovative program you can possibly think of to get these people off the street, and have been fairly successful.

If I can interject. As Deputy Mayor Zipelli said, the courts are being very cooperative when we pick up one of these targeted four to five hundred in making sure that, prison cap notwithstanding, these people get held. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: These people are held. And in some cases they are not 29 RESOLUTION 980124 even held in Philadelphia prisons; they are held at Gratersford. Deputy Mayor Dan Granland has worked closely with us. In fact, there has been such a coordination. And I want to mention this, too. The coordination of effort from the city government has been excellent. Dan Granland, Probation, the District Attorney's Office, Probation Department through Judge Panepinto, who you will hear from later. The Mayor's Children and Family Cabinet has sort of been the umbrella that kind of gave us the impetus. And it started about two years ago, we started formulating how we are going to go with this gun violence issue. Zero tolerance for gun offenders in neighborhoods where violent crime rates are in effect. What the Police Department has done -- and you read about this in the paper -- and Commissioner Timoney has been very successful in fostering using the geo mapping project to put our cops where the violent crime is being committed. We actively every day look at those 30 RESOLUTION 980124 maps and send cops in there, and we track violent crime, violent gun crime. And it has been successful. And you notice in the 19th District we had a dramatic drop in the amount of gun-related violence. But it is on a daily basis that officers are sent in to track crimes, violent crimes using weapons, using guns. So that's been very successful. The police probation patrols -- and you will hear from Judge Panepinto later, and I don't want to get into his testimony -- but we have replicated the Boston project. Massachusetts gun laws are a lot more restricting than Pennsylvania. So really we are comparing apples and oranges. And Boston's success with the gangs is really a replication of what we did in the late '70s with the Zuloo Nation. If you remember when we had problems with gangs in Philadelphia, and the Zuloo Nation was one of the biggest gang problems we had, we went from 35 homicides to zero within less than two 31 RESOLUTION 980124 years. So we like to say Boston replicated what we did. Now we are replicating these police patrols. We have ten probation officers assigned to the Police Department. There are juvenile probation officers who have to of their most egregious 8 cases, we make home visits. 9 It is not to arrest the kids -- in 10 some cases we have to arrest them because they 11 violated parole -- but it is to show the kids we 12 care now. 13 Police officers historically did not 14 know the kids who are on probation. But now, with 15 this effort started by Judge Panepinto and the Police Department, it has been successful. And we have targeted certain section 18 of the city to target, and it has been working well. To wrap it up, you will hear from ATF about the Integrated Ballistics Identification System. It is a gun tracking system. We are working several projects off of that. Every gun that is recovered in the city, approximately 5,000 last year, are traced 32 RESOLUTION 980124 through the IBIS system. ATF will give you all the technological advantages to that. But it gives us a fingerprint of that gun. We are working with gun manufacturers on several different fronts to try and enhance that. I don't want to get into too many areas, because the District Attorney is here. The relationship between the District Attorney and ourselves, with John Delaney, has been excellent. They have cooperated in attacking juvenile crime. But, basically, I have just given you a brief synopsis of some of the efforts that the Philadelphia Police Department has been doing. And you will hear from other people as we go along.

As you also may be aware, we received a grant from the Clinton Administration as an area of specific grant to help us with tracking guns related to juvenile violence. We are one of a number, small number, of cities who received that grant. You will hear more about that from the ATF people. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: One thing I failed to mention, and I am sorry, we received a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on 33 RESOLUTION 980124 Crime and Delinquency for some $4.1 million, which enabled us, through the University of Pennsylvania, which will enable us, once the system is up, to set up a geo tracking method to tell us not only where the guns come from, but who the users of these guns are. And there will be social indicators to say what economic level these people are, where the guns were bought from. It is a grant that we have been fighting so far successfully to get. It is a social component to this which Mike may want to mention in his testimony.

I would next like to turn to Recreation Commissioner Mike DiBerardinis, who has also been chairing the Handgun Reduction Task Force part of the Children and Youth Cabinet, which has been, you know, a major force in really confronting this issue, particularly as it affects children and families in our city. Commissioner DiBerardinis. COMMISSIONER MICHAEL DiBERARDINIS: Thank you, Councilwoman. And my name is Mike DiBerardinis. I am the Recreation Commissioner and 34 RESOLUTION 980124 also serve as the Chair of the Task Force, aforementioned task force, for the Mayor's Children and Families Cabinet. And, as you said, Councilwoman, the Cabinet has really been the umbrella that's attempting to coordinate, which I think the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Zipelli have started to talk about what we hope will be, is, and will become greater, a comprehensive firearms reduction and youth violence reduction initiative in the city. We started out looking at the issue of youth violence from the Mayor's cabinet. And really we looked at, what came clear to us, that, A, we had to coordinate the law enforcement work, the work of the courts, and the work of the social service and city department agencies in government if we were going to be effective in diminishing and eliminating the availability of handguns to young people and in neighborhoods in general. And in creating support systems and community action that would support what's happening legislatively, what's happening with the Police Department, what's happening in the courts. Around the sort of neighborhood work 35 RESOLUTION 980124 there's been done, that links very closely to the work that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Zipelli talked about, are really two elements. The first of which is a project called Safe and Sound in Philadelphia, which is a grant that the Children and Families Cabinet recently received from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a $10 million, eight-year grant, with its primary goal to eliminate -- or not to eliminate, but to reduce the incidences of youth violence in the City of Philadelphia. And the service part of that is to work, to collaborate, and coordinate city services to neighborhoods that have high incidences of youth violence and high homicide rates, high gun use, to coordinate city services in those neighborhoods and to create with the leadership of those neighborhoods, churches, schools, nonprofits, youth advocates, big institutions, hospitals, businesses, to create a youth agenda, and to move that youth agenda through the cooperation of the city departments with those organizations and agencies. We believe that if we are going to ask young people to make decisions that are 36 RESOLUTION 980124 different than the ones they have made to this point, we have to have people there to support those decisions. We have to have programs there. We have to build families, we have to build, give the youth options and opportunities to go another way. And that's essentially the cornerstone of the Safe and Sound in Philadelphia. And have in Eastern North Philadelphia -- hopefully we will go within a year across the river to river -- across North Philadelphia with this project, we have four neighborhood coordinating teams that work with city departments, staff, which includes Police, the School District, the Housing Authority, the Health Department, DHS, Recreation, Libraries, working with those organizations to create that youth agenda, to create opportunities, to create safe places for kids, and to make the neighborhood safer. Out of that has also grown, which I think the Mayor has referred to in his testimony, the summer public education campaign which we are very excited about. The overall slogan or message of the 37 RESOLUTION 980124 campaign is, I Can End Violence, ICE Violence. And this goal, the goal of this summer campaign, is to continue to build on this idea that there is zero tolerance for guns in the City of Philadelphia.

There's zero tolerance within the law enforcement agencies, both municipal and federal. There's zero tolerance in the courts, and there's zero tolerance in the streets, among parents, among leaders, among youth advocates, among the youth themselves. We want to change the perception among people in general in this city, but among young people in particular, that guns don't make you safe, that guns put you in more danger. And we all know that. The studies tell you that. You look at the homicide rate among young people it will speak to you very loudly. But I think we have to find ways in this campaign to bring that message to the young people. And what the Mayor referred to is one of the slogans, What Are You Shooting For?

Shooting At or Shooting For? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We are going to 38 RESOLUTION 980124 change it because the Mayor made it What Are You Shooting At. COMMISSIONER DiBERARDINIS: We can change it. But right now that's one of the slogans. And also we are adding another one that also raises a question, Live In Peace Or Rest In Peace. So we think that these are ways that we can reach young people. We want to give the tools to the residents, to the youth organizations, and to the parents and teachers and recreation leaders and librarians and health workers. We want to give tools, videos, posters, programs that reinforce the message and again provide the options. We also want to engage the media in this city, the radio stations, the newspapers, local newspapers, television stations, in this effort with us. We would like to see billboards with the graphics and the slogans around the city. I think it is really an important part of creating the message and building on what's happening in the courts and happening in the law 39 RESOLUTION 980124 enforcement.

I can't help but ask, are they going to alter their news format and put sports, weather, and good children's programs first? COMMISSIONER DiBERARDINIS: Well, actually, that's one of the things. One of the ideas is to create -- not to create, but to promote and elevate and lift up the good stories, the stories where young people have done extraordinary deeds or have succeeded in an extraordinary way. To counter, which is real, some of the very horrible stories that we see, and that's one of the ideas that is part of this campaign. Just to give you some idea, we are going to be printing tens of thousands of leaflets that outline the resources that are available. And we are having the Health Department coordinate sort of an information hotline. We will have a thousand packets that will have videos, posters, buttons, listing of books and programs that are available in that community. We have from Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence, they have a Cool Mel comic 40 RESOLUTION 980124 book. The Father's Day Rally Committee has posters. The Archdiocese is preparing, they are also part of this, they are preparing informational packets, as well. So we are very excited to think that we will create a new program in the city this summer that will tie very nicely into the things that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Zipelli have spoken about.

Well, those are two very, very important initiatives, and ongoing. And they are going to gear up, but even higher, and I wanted this panel to be aware of that. But let me also say that none of us believes that those initiatives -- alone, they can certainly, hopefully, have an impact -- are going to eliminate or even substantially reduce the problem of violence. And that is the reason why we have looked at two other, I think, significant opportunities, to actually maybe three other significant opportunities or avenues, to further reduce gun violence. Number one is what is commonly referred to as One Gun A Month legislation. And we 41 RESOLUTION 980124 are working on getting a better name for it, because One Gun A Month has sort of become a catch phrase. But essentially what that legislation would do -- and its sponsor, Representative Lita Cohen has worked for us over a year on this legislation, and has really done some research into Virginia and Maryland, two states that have recently passed this legislation, and has done a comprehensive effort. And not in any way to make points or hold press conferences, but rather to put together a strong bill with some good background evidence to put forward before the legislature. And Representative Cohen will testify as to the specifics. But there are a couple of points that I want to make about One Gun A Month. First of all, it in no way, shape, or form interferes with a citizen's right to maintain a firearm in their home or for personal protection, but it focuses on stopping multiple purchases of handguns -- handguns only, not long guns -- of handguns, because these are the guns, as I said, that ultimately wind up in the hands of our kids, and they are what almost exclusively become crime 42 RESOLUTION 980124 guns in Philadelphia. There is even a collector's exception in the bill. So that someone who is a gun collector and wants to buy multiple guns, because they collect them, is exempted from the provisions of the act. And Representative Cohen will delineate that during her testimony. But let me give you an example of why we believe One Gun A Month is desperately needed. In 1996, as I said, there were 150,000 guns sold in Pennsylvania. 38,000 of those were sold in the Metropolitan Philadelphia area. 9 percent of the purchasers bought 30 percent of the guns purchased in 1996 in the Philadelphia area in the five-county area. So of those 38,000 guns, 9 percent of the purchasers bought 30 percent of the guns. What it breaks down to is that 12 guns a year by a person would be legal under this legislation. You could go in once a month and buy a gun. You could buy 12 a year. If you are married, you could buy, as a couple, guns a month. You 24 could --

For 43 RESOLUTION 980124 self-protection.

That's correct, for self-protection. If you have relatives living in your home, you know, you could buy all multiples of 7 guns a year. 8 It seems to me that that should be 9 more than enough for the average law-abiding citizen 10 to use to protect themselves. 11 All this does is, it limits the 12 ability of people who want to buy guns and resell them on the street. We should understand that. This in no way, shape, or form abridges the right of a law-abiding citizen to obtain a gun to protect themselves. When I gave a speech to the gun manufacturers, there was someone from a conservative periodical. " I said, "Of course not. You can buy, a married couple can buy, 24 guns a year under this legislation. I don't think that's much of an 44 RESOLUTION 980124 erosion in their right to buy arms," I said. But, of course, there are limits to the Second Amendment. You would not assume that a private citizen would have the right to buy a nuclear weapon and keep it in their house. So there obviously are limits, and we believe this is a common sense limit that would help protect us in many ways. 4 percent of the purchasers in Pennsylvania. And it would have taken 5,000 of the 38,000 guns, in the five-county region, would have not been able to be sold had One Gun A Month been in effect. Only 103 people. But it would have eliminated 5,000 of the 38,000 guns. So that shows you the tiny impact on number of people. But the sledge hammer impact is because those 5,000 guns are the ones that wind up being the crime guns. Our evidence, ATF's evidence, absolutely makes that clear, without any question. 45 RESOLUTION 980124 And the grim reality of multiple purchasing is seen in the statistics. And each year that we get better at tracking and tracing guns, these statistics get higher and higher. At least percent of all 7 multiple-gun purchases can be linked to guns used in 8 the commission of violent crime in a 15-month period 9 that we studied. 10 So tracing is hard because of the 11 serial number problems, et cetera. But with the 12 abilities we have to now trace in a 15-month period 13 of all the guns used in violent crime, 20 percent 14 were able to be traced to multiple purchasers. 15 And we believe as tracing and 16 tracking methods improve, that percentage will go up 17 way higher than 20 percent. 18 608 handguns were purchased in 19 multiple-gun transactions in that same period. They 20 have been directly linked to firearm violent crimes. And, as I said, these numbers will only increase as we get better at tracing and tracking. Now, the fact that the city has contemplated a lawsuit has been in the papers. What we have done is began to assess what our damages as 46 RESOLUTION 980124 a city would be in a lawsuit, and we have also tried to assess legal theories and chances of being successful in a lawsuit. 8 million a year is the cost to the City of Philadelphia for gun violence. And that is a cost that comes from assessing a multiple of things: Courts, sheriffs, parole, probation, prisons, our prisons, the Health Department, a number of different departments. What is not included in that cost is the cost to Philadelphia area hospitals. I saw Andy Regalsworth here, and I am sure he is going to testify as to the unreimbursed cost to hospitals providing medical treatment as a result of gun violence. It is our belief that if that number was added onto the 58 million, it would be significantly higher. We have looked at the possibility of a lawsuit. A lawsuit would cost multiple millions of dollars to go forward on. A lawsuit would take an extensive period of time. 47 RESOLUTION 980124 As you know, the tobacco lawsuit has been in the offing now for almost a decade and is still not resolved. And we have not by any means decided not to proceed in a lawsuit. But when the news of the lawsuit came out, shortly thereafter I was contacted by the American Shooting Sports Council, which is the umbrella organization for gun manufacturers.

It is called the American Shooting Sports Council. But I was contacted and visited by them. We went over some of these statistics. We told them the cost of gun crime violence in Philadelphia, and we talked to them about some things. And shortly thereafter, the American Shooting Sports Council said that our action in Philadelphia was one of the motivating forces. Shortly thereafter, they went to Washington and, with the President, signed a voluntary agreement to go forward with put safety locks on all firearms, so they would not be accessible to younger children who take their father and their mother's firearm and play with it, and then accidentally discharge it. Of course that would only be with 48 RESOLUTION 980124 guns purchased going forward. That wouldn't be with all the guns that are out there. But that was the first time gun manufacturers recognized that the gun itself can be an instrument that actually causes violence, and took steps to do that. So based on that and based on our ongoing relationship with the American Shooting Sports Council -- as you know, Councilwoman Fernandez, I went down and spoke to their yearly convention in Washington. And I told them that everything I have told you today. I told them all the efforts we have made over the last decade, plus, to deal with the problems of gun violence, the things that we are contemplating, our stepped-up law enforcement efforts, our outreach campaign with young people. And I told them that if we are not going to pursue a lawsuit, we need their help to deal with the problems that are facing us. First and foremost I asked them to come to Harrisburg with us at hearings that Representative Cohen is going to set up and testify on behalf of One Gun A Month legislation. 49 RESOLUTION 980124 No legitimate manufacturer of guns is going to oppose One Gun A Month legislation. One Gun A Month legislation, as we have demonstrated here today, only affects people who want to buy multiple guns, sell them on the street to young people who are going to go out and commit the crimes. Reaction to that was mixed. Some instinctively said no, but a number of manufacturers' representatives themselves said that is something they could contemplate doing. We have formed a task force. And over the next four months, between now and Labor Day, we are going to try to make progress on these issues, and I am going to delineate the others. And I will say that the first time it was proposed to gun manufacturers that they voluntarily put safety locks on their guns, they said no to that, as well. So I think it is an ongoing process. In relation to One Gun A Month, we asked them to do the following: Stop selling guns that are attractive to criminals, but have no 25 legitimate use, things like Saturday Night Specials, 50 RESOLUTION 980124 military assault weapons, and armor-piercing bullets that have no possible use on this good God's earth but to kill law enforcement personnel. Armor-piercing bullets that can pierce a vest can have no possible use by a hunter, by a gun collector, someone who is protecting their home or protecting themselves as they go about their legitimate business. It is only a bullet that is destined to kill law enforcement personnel. And we have asked them to voluntarily agree to stop the sale of those items. That was one of our most significant requests. Secondly, we have asked them to stop what we believe is false and misleading and incorrect advertisement. You will see that some of the advertisements are directly aimed at a homeowner, buy a gun to protect yourself at home, protect your castle, et cetera. And all of the manufacturers do so.

That is despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that an individual who buys a gun to protect themselves in their home, that that gun is at least three times, in the New England 51 RESOLUTION 980124 Medicine of Journal Medicine, it is at least three times more likely to cause a homicide in the house, rather than to be used for legitimate protection. And our anecdotal evidence convinces us of that. Because, unfortunately, we pick up the newspaper every day almost and read about a child killing a child. We read about a husband or a wife killing a husband in the heat of passion. We read about teen suicides using their father's gun. Or tragically, just last week, in Edinborough, Pennsylvania, where a disturbed young man went and took his father's handgun and slayed a teacher and would have killed more people had it not been for some quick intervention. So we think that is an absolutely vital and important step for them to take to stop that type of advertising. Next we asked them to take the lead in, in addition to testifying for One Gun A Month, imposing senseless restrictions that impede investigation of gun crimes. For example, destruction of Brady forms and multiple-gun purchase forms in 20 days, 52 RESOLUTION 980124 which makes tracking infinitely move difficult. What legitimate reason could there be to destroy a Brady form or a multiple-purchase form days afterwards, within 20 days? What legitimate 6 purpose could be solved with that? And we need the 7 help. 8 If the gun manufacturers come in and 9 say, these makes no sense, there is no legitimate 10 purpose, we are for removing these restrictions, I 11 think we have a dramatically enhanced chance of 12 doing it. 13 We next asked, as you know, there was 14 a federal law in 1994, a very important federal law, 15 pushed by the Clinton Administration, which, it was 16 the Assault Weapon Law. 17 But, among other things, which made 18 it illegal to manufacture a clip for an automatic 19 pistol that had more than 10 bullets in the clip. 20 That was an enormous step going forward. 24. 36. There was all kinds.

All kinds of clips, 53 RESOLUTION 980124 which literally turned a pistol into a machine gun, virtually into a machine gun. We have asked them to stop making guns that are compatible with the old clips -- there is an easy way they could do that -- so that they could eliminate the utility of all the grandfather clips above the 10-clip limit. And, lastly, and most important of all, and most important of all, we have asked them to continue on and to devote significant dollars to research and development, technology for personalized firearms. As you may know, Colt has started research on a prototype for police departments only, so that each officer who gets a gun, that gun can be personalized to the officer's use through new technology, fingerprints, et cetera. So that if the police officer is in a fight and an assailant grabs that police officer's gun -- which happens consistently here in Philadelphia and other cities -- that the assailant will not be able to discharge the gun, that the gun is only fit to be discharged by the person who purchased it. 54 RESOLUTION 980124 Now, would that be expensive? Sure. Extremely expensive at first, but less expensive as we go forward. But think of what would happen. Think of what would happen. That kid in Edinborough couldn't have used his father's gun to kill the teacher. It would stop all sorts of those events. Safety locks would become irrelevant because the kids would not be able to discharge the gun. And, best of all, it would render totally obsolete multiple purchases because the person who purchased, you know, Saturday Night 15 Specials, each and every one of them would have to 16 be personalized to their use. 17 And this is for handguns only. This is not for long guns that are used by sportsmen, et cetera. And for the person who wants a gun to protect themselves, no impediment whatsoever. No 22 impediment whatsoever. But it ends the multiple sales. It ends guns being used accidentally. It ends guns being used for teen suicide. It ends a lot of the 55 RESOLUTION 980124 things that we are trying to prevent. And in an editorial for the American Firearms Industry, Ron Stuart, who is the CEO of Colt manufacturers, advocated the creation of exactly such an R&D program to improve technologies, to promote handguns, as Mr. Stuart made some very strong statements on behalf of getting that done. And, basically, we have got to have change. And we believe that all of these things are important. We have got to pass One Gun A Month because that technology, even if we can convince the gun manufacturers to do it, that technology is, number one, years away, and, number two, it wouldn't affect all of the guns that are out there. We have got to take steps like the Police Department is taking, like the Recreation and Health Department are taking. We have got to bring back our local ability, in my judgment, to have our own gun ordinances to, put us on the level with the Massachusetts and the New Yorks and places where gun violence is enormously reduced. But, in the end, we have to 56 RESOLUTION 980124 understand that guns do create harm. It is not just people that create harm. There was a Florida manufacturer of assault pistols who said in an interview a little while ago he was selling assault pistols that at that time were equipped with 32-bullet magazines, 32-bullet magazines. " Well, he is. And we are as a society. And if we are ever going to do something about gun violence, we have to take steps now to understand it is our responsibility, and we have got to act strongly, significantly, and I think courageously. We have got to move forward on a number of levels. We can't give up just because the odds are against us. Whether it is One Gun A Month or the reinstitution of our own legislation or the ability to pass our own legislation here in Philadelphia, we have got to try.

The stakes are too high, the carnage is too great, the effect on Philadelphia, both 57 RESOLUTION 980124 substantively and in the perception of people's minds is too great for us to sit back and do nothing. And that's why, again, I want to commend this panel. And the Councilman Ortiz has joined us. And I know he and Councilman Cohen have been great fighters for our right to have our own legislation, and we appreciate that. And whatever help Council can give us in these efforts is very, very important. And I appreciate your listening to us, and giving us this much time.

Thank you, Mayor Rendell. And I do also want to note Commissioner Estelle Richman. If you had any things you wanted to add. You are part of the next panel, since the Health Department is taking a lead on this issue, and it was actually the Youth Fatality Review Committee, initiated out of the Health Department, that certainly brought my attention to this issue by cataloguing the horrible facts of the effects of youth violence on young people. 58 RESOLUTION 980124 So do you want to wait until the next panel? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I will wait until the next panel.

What I would like to suggest is, we could open up for some brief questions. We do have a fairly tight schedule. We want to hear from experts on the toll of youth violence in our city. We have some people here who have been victims of youth violence, and we certainly want to hear from them. We have State Representative Lita Cohen, we have community people, law enforcement people, and people from the courts.

And, Madam Chairwoman, I am happy to come back and be recalled at the end of the hearings at another day to answer more fully your questions, if you want to concentrate on getting these witnesses up in time.

That might be a good idea. What I am thinking, you said there are a lot of things you will be working on over the 59 RESOLUTION 980124 summer, the PR campaign, the initiatives with the gun lobby. Probably we will recess this committee and reconvene the hearings in the fall, to again assess and hear whether or not progress has been made.

It is our intention to get everyone in Council involved with helping us with the PR campaign over the summer, very much so to lead the efforts out at your district, Councilman, out of the recreation centers. And the At Large Councilmen can help us with the efforts of the media and other things. So you will be hearing from us. And, again, hopefully I will have a report back to you on progress with the gun manufacturers. And I believe we will make some progress, because I believe they are viewing the problem, and much more responsibly than they did before. We will see. And, again, the lawsuit is distinctly an option if we don't get the necessary progress that I believe we need to make. We will still 60 RESOLUTION 980124 consider the lawsuit.

Mayor Rendell, I want to thank you and your team for not only talking about the issue eloquently and passionately, but taking very specific steps and developing very specific strategies to attack this problem from a variety of angles.

And I know we can count on your support of One Gun A Month, both as a body and individually, as well. It is important for us to reach out to as many of the legislators as possible.

Councilman DiCicco had wanted to ask a question. As long as we keep responses focused. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your testimony. It was very informative. I am not a gun owner, never was, never intend to be. Could someone just briefly explain to me the process. An individual decides to purchase a gun, for whatever reason. You go to a gun shop, you make the purchase, you fill out the form. There is a waiting period. Five days, it is? We have been 61 RESOLUTION 980124 trying to get seven days or something? I still don't know what the -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: If you don't have a Permit to Carry. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I still don't understand why a gun purchaser can't wait an additional two days, they have to go out and kill the deer, or whatever it is. But whatever, needless to say --.

Five days was a victory. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: The serial number, I believe, from the gun is probably part of the application process. And you explained that after days, 17 the application is destroyed? 18

Destroyed. 19 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Well, that 20 answers part of one of my questions, but I am going to go forward with the question anyway. Is there any followup on the purchase of that gun once it is purchased, and the application has been filed? Does the person ever have to renew a license? 62 RESOLUTION 980124 I guess my question is, could we impose legislation that would require someone who purchases a gun to periodically renew the license to have that gun in the City of Philadelphia? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: See, Councilman, there is two issues here. If it is a Permit to Carry is involved, it is five years. You have to renew that every five years, Permit to Carry. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: But do you have to bring the gun? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: The gun you never have to do. If you walk into a gun store and say, "Give me a .45 caliber," whatever -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Why can't we do that? Because if I hear your testimony correctly, sometimes the guns that are purchased, there is a percentage of those guns that wind up being resold illegally. If I buy a gun, and my purposes are legitimate, why shouldn't I come back five years later and produce the same gun, and you can take the serial number off to prove that I have never sold 63 RESOLUTION 980124 that gun to someone for whatever reason?

The problem would exist. I mean, we could do that. But, again, we would be subject to be preempted by state law. But, secondly, I think our chances of getting that through would be very slim. But, again, that goes back to the problem that Senator Fumo tried to address with his legislation. That person could come in and just say, hey, Councilman, you know, I bought these 14 guns, I intended to keep them in my house, and, you 15 know, someone hit my car and stole all 15 of them. Unless the ATF has successfully tracked and caught that person actually in the process of the sale, there is nothing we can do. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: There is one thing that we're looking at, and this is kind of off the wall, with the gun manufacturers. That's to enter, just like a car, to enter the serial number at the point of manufacture, and enter it into the IBIS system. Now, we don't know how far the idea 64 RESOLUTION 980124 has been talked about. And IBIS is a new technology. In other words, we don't register you as a gun owner; we register the fingerprint of the gun. This is something we haven't approached the manufacturers head-on. If we can get that Smith and Wesson that's made in Massachusetts to be entered in August of 1998 when it is manufactured, and you test fire that weapon and now it has a fingerprint, no matter where that guns goes, I don't care who owns it, no 13 matter where it goes, we can track that gun.

That's one of the initiatives I am pretty certain the gun manufacturers are voluntarily going to go along with. That would help the problem of the obliterated serial number. Now all we have to go on is the serial number, and it is fairly easy to obliterate those serial numbers.

I want to move to Councilman Mariano.

Most of my questions are for the Gun Czar, Mr. Zipelli. I told 65 RESOLUTION 980124 you I would get them in. I am one of those evil gin owners, and I admit it proudly. I have a gun. I have a Permit to Carry, and I have two guns. When you answered Councilman DiCicco's questions, you answered what I wanted to ask. The IBIS system will work, and you know that it will work. But how forceful will you have to be to get Smith and Wesson and everyone to do the IBIS system?

I think we will make real progress in that. Because there is a quote from Ron Stuart in another periodical where it says, look, you know, unless we are saying that we want to aid criminals, we have got to be for that. And I think they are beginning to come around and do certain things like that. The question is, how much will they be willing to do. And, in the end, personalized firearms are the answer. Now, I remember when we talked about air bags for automobiles, and people said, oh, it can never happen, it is too expensive, too 66 RESOLUTION 980124 expensive. So it depends how far they will be willing to go.

Or how far we push them. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ZIPELLI: Colt says it is only 50 to 100 dollars a weapon.

If I can conclude on this note -- and I know you were joking when you said you were one of those evil gun owners -- we don't believe for a minute that people who legitimately buy firearms for their own protection are evil or bad. They are good people, scared because of the rising tide of gun violence. It is one of the great ironies. And we are not out to stop them from owning a gun. We want them before they purchase a gun to know the true facts. But we are certainly not out to stop the law-abiding citizen from having a gun and giving them whatever reassurance that that gun gives them. We are out to stop people who profit by selling guns to people who shouldn't have them, particularly our kids. 67 RESOLUTION 980124

Mayor, most gun owners like myself, we have no problem. If you can't live with One Gun A Month, there is something the matter with you.

The organizations do not reflect the views of gun owners in these regards. The legitimate gun owner, the legitimate hunters couldn't care less about this legislation and probably are, to a great degree, in favor of it. So I know you were only joking. But those are the vast majority of people who buy our guns in Philadelphia.

I wish you wrote for the Inquirer, instead of Marissa Gribon, because you understand my sense of humor.

Councilwoman Verna.

Commissioner, you mentioned about the summer outreach program. Are we going to expand that into the schools? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Yes.

You talked about 68 RESOLUTION 980124 a summer program. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's the kick-off, Councilwoman. We think it is really a time when, obviously, the kids are most free to hear it. It is also the time of the greatest kind of danger. Our expectation is -- and we are really pleased that this coalition is behind us, which includes the School District and the Archdiocese and the United Way and the William Penn Foundation and a slew of nonprofits and neighborhood groups -- our expectation is that it will kick off this summer and then, you know, transform itself into a fall/winter program. We need to be consistent with the message. So I think if I didn't put it forward, we're kicking it off this summer, and then hopefully have it even be bigger and better in the fall.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Councilman Ortiz.

Mr. Mayor, as one who has been working on this issue now for 12 years, 69 RESOLUTION 980124 the aspect of preemption and the fact that the legislature took that right away from us, how far are we in terms -- I know Ms. Cohen has legislation, I know that Dwight has proposed certain things -- how far are we? And given the nature of the lobbying body that we are against, how do you see the chances of at least getting some statewide, if not local, powers?

I think it is, to be frank and honest, I think it is an uphill fight. Representative Cohen can give you probably a better analysis of that than I. I think it is an uphill fight. But that's why I think we need some historic break-throughs. Like if the Council itself issued, the Sports Council would come, or major manufacturers individually would come and testify they were in favor of this legislation, that would be a dramatic break-through. If we put the case before them -- and we don't want this to just be a Philadelphia issue because, as Representative Cohen will tell you, a lot of these multiple purchases are happening in our 70 RESOLUTION 980124 four-county area, as well. But, you know, I think one of the pleas that I am going to make is, look, we would like to have this and our own right to deal with guns in our own way back. But give us one for sure. Give us one for sure. So, I don't know. And we have to build coalitions. We have a plan to build coalitions statewide, law enforcement groups, religious groups and organizations to try to focus attention on this. And you know Virginia is considered to be, obviously, a southern and rural state in many ways, and One Gun A Month was passed in Virginia. So I know the prognosticators and the analysts say no for Pennsylvania, but we're not going to give up.

Thank you, Mayor. And we will have other, many opportunities to continue this conversation. I would next like to call State Representative Lita Cohen, who needs to get to session in Harrisburg. And we have asked her to briefly share with us her proposed legislation on One Gun A Month. 71 RESOLUTION 980124 Representative Cohen is from Montgomery County, is a Republican. And since the Republicans are in the majority in the state legislature, we hope she will have some success. STATE REPRESENTATIVE LITA INDZEL COHEN: Thank you, Councilwoman Fernandez. Good morning, Councilpersons. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to be moved up, as I have to get to Harrisburg. I represent suburban Philadelphia. My district is adjacent to the city. I am here to tell you several things. First, you are not alone. We are the recipients of what comes out of Philadelphia. In fact, what happens in these multiple-gun purchases that occur in Philadelphia occur all over the state. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, we recently authorized the State Attorney General and funded additional drug enforcement 23 agents, because our members from rural Pennsylvania 24 all over the state have testified that the drugs 25 that start in Philadelphia are affecting the entire 72 RESOLUTION 980124 state and traveling through the state. The same is true for handguns. I don't have to give you the statistics; the Mayor did that. I have brought my friend, the biggest shoe I could find. Because not only have I been working with the Mayor for, as he mentioned, well over a year; I have been working with hunters, sportsmen and collectors, of which I have many in my own district. And there are many, many throughout the state. This is not a foot in the door, and that's why I have brought my friend the big shoe, to reassure legitimate and respectable gun owners -- Councilman, that includes you, so you are not one of those evil people --

I was only kidding, and the Mayor understood. STATE REPRESENTATIVE COHEN: But we are very serious about it. We have total respect for legitimate hunters, collectors, sportsmen, et cetera. I have worked with them. And when I have mentioned One Gun A Month, one handgun a month, not one gun, but one 73 RESOLUTION 980124 handgun, they have laughed, as we have heard the laughter this morning. Nobody, including hunters, collectors, people who have weapons for defense, no 6 one needs more than 12 handguns a year. And that's the problem. What this legislation will do is several things. Not only will it limit one handgun a month to purchase, but, as the Mayor mentioned, many people will, when the gun that has been involved in the commission of a crime, is traced back to the multiple purchaser, he will say, oh, my goodness, it was stolen, I lost it, et cetera. This legislation will make it a misdemeanor if you fail to report a lost or stolen handgun within a certain period of time. And to reassure people, it does provide many, many exceptions for collectors, sportsmen, people who were dealers, people who have had their collections stolen, et cetera. So I think that this legislation will go a long way. It was asked by Councilman Ortiz, will it pass? As you know, I do not introduce 74 RESOLUTION 980124 frivolous legislation at all. And I think the important thing is that we are able to mobilize people, and gun owners particularly, because you have respect for the dangers and respect for guns. It is the organizations. I know personally as soon as my legislation was introduced, the NRA put out some what I consider scurrilous information and wrong information to its members. But this is a people and a children issue, and we are really here to protect our children. This legislation provides for enhanced penalties for people who do, for some reason, buy or sell more than one handgun a month. So there are limits on the dealers, there are limits on the purchasers. I congratulate you for the work that you are doing. And I want you to know, as I said, that we are here to give you a hug. You are not alone. What happens in Philadelphia is happening all over the state, witnessed in Edinborough, Pennsylvania, this past weekend. We want to assure all of you, we will 75 RESOLUTION 980124 do our best. We need your assistance, and particularly the assistance of the respectable and good folks who own guns. This shoe will not go further than this legislation, and I thank you for the courtesy. Thank you very much.

Thank you. STATE REPRESENTATIVE COHEN: I will answer questions.

And, again, will you keep us informed of the status of the bill? STATE REPRESENTATIVE COHEN: Absolutely.

And we hope you can convince many of your colleagues to take this important step. STATE REPRESENTATIVE COHEN: Thank you for your courtesy, and we will certainly do our best. I appreciate it.

Our next panel will briefly go over some of the facts of the toll of gun violence in our city. It is costly in so many ways, both in 76 RESOLUTION 980124 terms of people's lives, the psyche of the city, and then the financial costs. So I would like to call forward Estelle Richmond, our Health Commissioner; Dr. Paul Fink, Chair of the Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Youth Fatality Review Committee; Dr. Donald Kauder, Vice Chief of the Division of Traumatology and Surgical Critical Care from the University of Pennsylvania; and Andrew Wigglesworth, President and CEO of the Delaware Valley Health Care Council. Again, we have heard some facts, you can help fill in very briefly the facts you are so well aware of. And then I wanted to call forward some of the victims of gun violence to share with us their personal story. I would also like to welcome students from the Sayer Middle School in West Philadelphia, who are researching their own neighborhood and ways to learn about how the city works. So for the students here today, you are seeing how this City Council of Philadelphia wants to work with all the folks in the community to reduce gun violence, particularly as it affects our 77 RESOLUTION 980124 young people in the city. So Commissioner Richmond. COMMISSIONER ESTELLE B. RICHMAN: Yes. Good morning, Councilwoman Fernandez and other members of Council and members of the community. My name is Estelle Richmond. I am the Commissioner of Health for the City of Philadelphia, Department of Public Health. I appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you today about a crucial issue facing the city and the nation, youth violence and access to guns. Many young people in Philadelphia are dying preventable deaths; even more are involved in acts of violence that do not, at least at that time, result in death. In order to implement effective prevention strategies for other children, more needs to be done about who is dying and the risk factors which precede their death. One means of gathering this information is through child death review teams. As part of a statewide effort to determine the number and the nature of deaths in Philadelphia, the 78 RESOLUTION 980124 Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Youth Fatality Review Team routinely and systematically reviews the deaths of all Philadelphia residents under age 22. Its mission is to prevent future child deaths and related violence by review, analysis and subsequent initiation of corrective actions. Actions include programs to prevent violence at the community level, changes in the court and juvenile justice system, any intervention that may along the course of someone's life intervene in their path to violence. The Philadelphia team was convened in June of 1993 by Commissioner Ross. The team has reviewed complete data for 1994, and has just completed 1995 data. The team operates in two subcommittees. One examines homicide and suicide deaths, the other examines natural deaths, deaths by injury, motor vehicle deaths, and drug-related deaths. Dr. Fink, Chair of the Homicide Committee, will provide more detail on the work of his team and the other activities they are involved 79 RESOLUTION 980124 in. The key to the review teams is the determination of which deaths might have been prevented and, subsequently, what policy, laws, regulations, and prevention strategies should be developed or implemented to prevent a recurrence. It is important to note that while the teams are examining violence that resulted in death, the findings and interventions apply to all acts of youth violence. The Health Department recently released the complete 1995 report, which provides details on deaths to residents under age in 15 1995. per 100,000. of those deaths were due to 21 injuries. 3 percent were suicides. One-quarter of the Philadelphia deaths of youth are Philadelphia residents.

The 80 RESOLUTION 980124 percentage of homicides for youth in Philadelphia is more than twice as high as that for the state as a whole. Males represent half of Philadelphia residents age zero to 21. However, 61 percent of all 1995 deaths to Philadelphia residents involved males. 9 percent. 6 percent of the youth who died were African-American. More than half of the youth homicide victims had school problems in the year before their death. Overall, one-third had been truant, and one in four had dropped out of school before the death. Other potential risk factors exhibited by youth homicide victims included a mental health diagnosis, reports to DHS for being victims of abuse or neglect, known substance abuse problems, as well as a history of arrests. More than one in four homicide victims were on probation, bench warrant, or arrest status at the time of their death. 81 RESOLUTION 980124 Specifically related to some of the issues before us today, the 1995 report shows us the following: Homicide and suicide victims age and 5 above are more likely to die from firearms than any 6 other weapon type. 7 More than two-thirds of the female 8 homicide and suicide victims age 13 and above, and 9 88 percent of male homicide and suicide victims age 10 13 and above, died as a result of a firearm. 11 Obviously reducing the number of guns 12 available to youth will play an important role in 13 reducing the youth violence overall. The two years of data gathering and analysis have begun to lead to important discoveries and recommendations, including program development, reduction in availability of weapons, continued data-gathering communication between agencies, and changes in the legal, judicial, and school system to better address youth at risk of violence. A key recommendation is to reduce the availability of firearms in the community and educate young people about the dangers of firearms. In addition, the Health Department is actively working with the medical community to 82 RESOLUTION 980124 revise and disseminate the weapon-related injury surveillance form. This form, when completed and submitted by physicians, will give the Health Department vital information about weapon-related information, and not only homicides. The surveillance will enable us to learn about youth violence in a much broader sense, since we will learn about incidents before someone dies, the time and place of the incident, the type of weapon, and hopefully the circumstances of the incident itself. We will also learn about the time and place that injuries take place, which will enable us to better focus violence prevention and other youth programs. This information will enable us to intervene both in community-based programming and in individual cases. We are hopeful that the form will be completed, revised, and distributed and in use by July 1, 1998. The factors that contribute to youth violence are multiple and interconnected. Clearly, however, the easy availability of guns in 83 RESOLUTION 980124 Philadelphia makes carrying out violence all too easy. Reducing that availability means giving time to intervene, time to cool off, time to do something other than pull the trigger. Thank you for your time today to address this issue.

Thank you, Commissioner. I would next like to turn to Paul Fink, who is the Chair of the Youth Death Review Committee. And, again, it was the data from that report that so shocked me a couple of years ago, was really one of the things that prompted me to convene these hearings, these series of hearings. Dr. Fink.

Good morning, Councilwoman Fernandez, other members of Council, members of the community. I am Dr. Paul Fink, Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine, and Chair of the Youth Homicide Committee of Philadelphia. And I am very pleased to have this 84 RESOLUTION 980124 opportunity to come before you. Council's interest in this problem and these three hearings have been very important. And I believe that progress is being made in Philadelphia in the area of youth violence and gun reduction. The Youth Homicide Committee works hard to stimulate changes in public policy as a result of our data collection. And you have heard and will hear about some of our efforts, including in the area of truancy, the reduction or the attempt to reduce bench warrants, and the VUFA UFA program in DHS, that is the Violation of the Uniform Firearm Act, for young people who are first-time gun offenders. However, there are a number, there are still too many guns, and it is still too easy to kill. The recent nationwide rash of senseless murders by young children and adolescents only adds to our concern that a major push by all factions of the city is vital. There are a number of areas of information, three, in fact, that I think are 85 RESOLUTION 980124 important for Councilmembers to put into the equation. First, the Boston data has demonstrated something very important. And that is, the kids who carry guns are scared. While that's not the impression that you might get from movies and TV, or the bravado attributed to these kids, the evidence is that once the kids in Boston were convinced that someone else, the police, would actually protect them, the violence, the use of guns, and the killings stopped. Secondly, I want to make clear that the effect of street violence has already had a profound effect on young people, as evidenced by the following incident: A year ago I was asked to Chair a panel of 12-year-olds, two African-American boys, two African-American girls, two white boys, two white girls, all 12 years old. And I spent an hour asking them questions about their feelings, their attitudes, what scares them. " The first African-American boy raised his hand eagerly and said, "I think I'm going to be a 10. I'm going to be a great basketball player. I am going to go to business college. I am going to use all my money to go into business," and he was just there. " It sent a shudder through me. '" The reality is that we are dealing with a generation of people who are frightened and terrified. And it is our job in this effort to reduce guns and youth violence, to take that out of the system, and provide safety for our children. Third, there is growing evidence that witnessing or experiencing trauma is related to the development of delinquency. 87 RESOLUTION 980124 Substantial research exists that demonstrates that children who see or experience violence in their families and the community are at risk for adjustment difficulties and emotional psychological and cognitive problems. Younger children having less life experience, less developed neurological capacity, and less ability to verbalize or express their response to the trauma have a greater likelihood of later pathology. One researcher asserts that children are at greater risk for traumatic events because they do not have an established identity and their ability of coping with behaviors is limited. Typical responses of children to violence and trauma includes physical affective cognitive and behavioral consequences. Physical symptoms can include insomnia, loss of appetite, muscle weakness. Affective responsescan be including being depressed or anxious, being restricted or numb, guilty, shame, fear of a repeat of the incident, along with the intolerance of these fear responses and passivity, pessimism about the future.

88 RESOLUTION 980124 Cognitive impacts include distractability, duration sequence distortions, declining school performance, intrusive recollections, flashbacks, and nightmares. Children who witness or experience violence also tend to adopt clinging or regressive behaviors, isolation, distancing, thrill-seeking,, hypervigilance, and high startle reflexes. For younger children, especially boys, aggressive behavior increases, as well as aggression. These children also suffer from depression, fearfulness, low self esteem and low self confidence, and become socially isolated from their peers. Adolescents have been shown to be more prone to truancy, delinquency, and physical assaults, particularly if they have experienced a history of violent incidence around them. Therefore, the community must take action to reduce trauma and hurt in children. And we need to increase our reference to identify and carry out interventions on at-risk vulnerable children. 89 RESOLUTION 980124 The 1994 Youth Homicide Committee data showed 80 percent of the perpetrators and 52 percent of the decedents had their first arrest between the ages of and 14. 6 Therefore, we must move towards 7 greater community efforts to prevent children from 8 the kind of violence we seek today. 9 We must shift our attention to the 10 earliest years, parenting education, pre-school, dare care, Head Start, and especially in elementary school. Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to address you. I have tried to move from statistics to some of the realities we face, in trying to get control over and eliminate violence in our young people. I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Fink. I would like to go on to our next witness on this panel, Dr. Don Kauder, Vice Chief of the Division of Traumatology and Surgical Critical Care, the Trauma Center at the University of 90 RESOLUTION 980124 Pennsylvania. I also would like to note that Councilman Frank Rizzo has joined us. And I think Councilwoman Verna and DiCicco needed to leave for a meeting. Thank you for being here, and they plan to come back. Dr. Kauder.

My name is Don Kauder. I am a surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania, in the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care. I am not going to waste your time this morning with a further recitation of statistics this morning. You will hear plenty of them before the session concludes. Instead I am going to try to give you a brief snapshot of what it is like to care for the growing ranks of our children who are falling victim to the senseless violence associated with firearm injury in our city. Some things I am going to say are going to be graphic. It may offend some of you, and for that I apologize. But I think it is important to offer a perspective that people otherwise 91 RESOLUTION 980124 wouldn't have access to. , sitting in the call room 4 two floors above the trauma receiving area. Just checking in with my wife at home. The three kids are finally in bed, victorious in their quest to nickel and dime her for those delicious "it's past your bedtime" extra minutes. m. last night. m. tomorrow. " Our conversation screeches to a halt. 10:02. Standing in the trauma room, donning protective (we hope) lead aprons, surgical gowns, hats, masks, eye protection, knee-high boots, double layers of gloves. The medical report from the Philadelphia EMS, "Male, gunshot wound to the chest, unstable. " 10:03. Preparing my team: Three surgeons, two anesthesiologists, three nurses, an xray technician, a respiratory therapist, the blood bank, the operating room nurse, the intensive care unit supervisor, a transporter, a secretary, the chaplain. 92 RESOLUTION 980124 10:05. The EMS crashes through the door, patient and paramedics smeared with blood. CPR in progress. "He lost his blood pressure in the driveway," they say, trying to maintain the outward appearance of cool and calm. The young black's man head is lolling from side to side, eyes rolled back in his head. He is showing no signs of life. My team springs into action. V. lines placed in his neck and groin. Quick assessment shows two gunshot wounds on the front of his left chest and an old abdominal scar running from his chest to his groin. A repeater. "We are opening his chest," I say. I am thinking, "We're starting another autopsy. " 10:08. Antiseptic cursorily splashed on the chest, knife slashes through skin and muscle, into the chest. A huge gush of blood splashes out on me, on the floor, the walls,. Thank goodness for knee-high boots. The sack around the heart has been 93 RESOLUTION 980124 ripped open by a bullet. The blood rushes out. The heart is still. The heart muscle is shredded impossible to repair. 10:15. "It's over," I called out. "Everyone be careful. " 10:20. I reorganize the team. "Call the Medical Examiner. Call Kidney 1. Start sewing up his chest and be careful. Does anyone know his name? Is there family? " 10:45. I have washed up and changed my clothes. The gown didn't work as well as I hoped it would, and the dead man's blood has soaked through to my skin. My pager goes off. It is the chaplain. The family is in the consultation room. 10:50. Lots of people, sitting, standing. Expressions of pain, sorrow, hope. "Are you miss mother," I ask. "Yes. " "No, ma'am, he's not. " I am cut off by a palpable surge of grief and rage. 94 RESOLUTION 980124 "My God. Oh, my God, my son," screaming, tears, shouts of anger, injustice. My trauma beeper suddenly screams in our ears, cutting through the commotion like a knife. " Another conversation screeches to a halt. 10:51. I walk next door to the trauma receiving area. The housekeeper is hurrying out, mop and pail of cherry-colored water in hand. Not wanting to be caught in the onrushing storm of people. The report comes in. " Here we go again. This is real life, and real death. It is not made up, it is not dramatized, and it is happening or is about to be enacted even as we speak. Councilwoman Fernandez invited me to come here today to give you my perspective on the epidemic of firearms violence. Why me?

I have neither fame nor notoriety, I hope. We have the media and the recent highly publicized shooting outside the Palestra to thank for my presence here. Unfortunately, the scenario that I 95 RESOLUTION 980124 have just recounted rarely gets in print. " My hope today was to give you a sense of how firearm violence affects me and my colleagues, and how we are trying to deal with the issue. Clearly, as a trauma surgeon, I put myself on the front lines as the court of last resort for victims of violence. As in the case I described, this approach is frequently too little, too late. The solutions to the problem will be found in how we respond as individuals and as a community. I am fortunate to work with a group of dedicated professional who very much want to see things change. Although we feel relatively powerless to limit the easy availability of handguns in the community, we felt that by giving potential victims of handgun violence some insight into what we do, and the graphic consequences of being shot, it might help. Call it aversion therapy, if you will. We are invited to local high schools 96 RESOLUTION 980124 in the city where we put on a skit re-enacting the scenario I just reviewed, using ourselves, as well as interested students, as the actors. Following the skit, I present a very graphic slide show depicting actual gunshot wounds, and then follow with a question-and-answer period. We then break into smaller groups and act as facilitators, in hopes of further addressing the students' concerns. I get the same questions and comments over and over. Will you take care of me even if I have no money? If you get a colostomy, is it permanent? Can you have section if you are paralyzed? Why don't we have metal detectors in our school? Why, when you're robbed and you give it up, why do they still shoot you? It is not fair. Why shouldn't I have a gun? Everyone else does. I need it for protection. Is anything going to change after you all leave today? In truth, I have no idea whether our efforts have been effective. They have certainly made us feel better as individuals. And if we have influenced even a single person to take a different 97 RESOLUTION 980124 view of guns and violence, perhaps our efforts are justified. While limiting the number of guns that can be purchased is not the cure-all for the multi-faceted, complex issue of firearms-related violence, we must start somewhere, and this initiative that has been reviewed today can be such a start. The question we must not forget, in the words of our children, must be" is anything going to change after we leave here today? Thank you for the opportunity to address you.

Thank you, Mr. Kauder. Next to testify is Andrew Wigglesworth. Andrew Wigglesworth is the President and CEO of the Delaware Valley Health Council.

Councilwoman Fernandez and other members of the City Council, my name is Andrew Wiggelsworth, and I am President of the Delaware Valley Health Care Council. The Council represents approximately 98 RESOLUTION 980124 150 health care organizations throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, including virtually all the hospitals and health systems in this entire region. Like the members of the Council, area health care providers obviously are very concerned about the toll of youth gun violence. I think the experience and the moving testimony that you just heard should underscore the fact that that experience and the toll that that is taking is going on at hospitals throughout this region, throughout this city. And while there is obviously a lot of focus on the impact on the victims, they're involved, I think, it also one couldn't sit and listen to that testimony without understanding the extraordinary impact on physicians, nurses, other dedicated people that work every day to deal with this type of violence. More important -- well, not more important than that -- but I do want to say that we applaud the Rendell Administration's efforts, the Council's efforts to examine initiatives designed to restrict access of our young people to firearms. 99 RESOLUTION 980124 Obviously this is an issue that affects the future and literally the lives of our children. We also are pleased that the Council has taken into consideration the enormous cost to the city's health care delivery system related to youth violence, particularly guns. As you are well aware, the region's health care organizations are under enormous pressure as our health care system undergoes enormous change with the growth in managed care, changes in federal and state policy, continuing increases in the number of uninsured. Uncompensated care provided by hospitals in the Delaware Valley exceeded $300 million. According to the most recent state data in the City of Philadelphia, uncompensated care increased by 17 percent in one year alone. As Mayor Rendell indicated earlier in his testimony, the health care resources needed to finance emergency care resulting from gun violence obviously serves to undermind our collective ability, whether it is the hospitals or state or 100 RESOLUTION 980124 city government's ability, to provide additional services needed by our communities. I will summarize the rest of my testimony, and provide you an overview of some of the data or some of the statistics that provide a full picture of this problem. The data set used is from Calendar Year 1995. And I guess I would say at the outset, in terms of this data, it should be understood that it underestimates the data and that it does not include or underestimates the cost, in that it does not include people that have been treated at emergency rooms or released, or those that are dead at the scene, or those that are dead on arrival. So it does not include. It basically includes only those individuals that have been admitted to the hospital for an inpatient stay. In 1995, there are 418 young Philadelphians who were hospitalized for injuries as a result of acts of violence involving firearms. This total far and away leads the other groupings of violent acts as the most frequent cause for violence-related hospitalization. 101 RESOLUTION 980124 In terms of a profile of those that have been hospitalized, the median age is years 4 old. It ranges, however, from as young as 11, to 5 where we limited this data to be consistent with the 6 earlier data, to age 22. But it is as young as 11 7 people are being hospitalized for injuries related 8 to handguns in a violent situation. 5 percent is male. In 10 terms of race, 80 percent, which is similar to the 11 statistics that Commissioner Richmond said, 80 12 percent is African-American. m. m.

And, as this data underscores, that 17 basically -- the incidence or the time frame from 18 one is discovered, transported, treated, and 19 stabilized in an emergency room and then admitted, there may be several hours between all of that. It would underscore to us that the after-school programs that the Council has been talking about ought to be extended beyond just the early afternoon hours, and some kind of supervised activity into the evening would be most helpful as 102 RESOLUTION 980124 it relates to this. The hospitalizations resulting from firearm violence, they are most costly. The average charge by per case incurred for violent gun injuries was $31,937. The bottom line, hospitalization charges for the treatment of young people injured by violent acts involving firearms is more than $13 million annually. To put that amount in perspective, $13 million would pay for comprehensive well child care services from birth to age 2 for approximately 26,000 newborns. So it gives you an idea of the resource trade-off that is also going on. While the health care charges totaling more than 13 million for the 418 hospitalizations are obviously significant, it is just the tip of the iceberg. It does not include the millions of dollars worth of behavioral health services that are needed to clean up and deal with all of the trauma associated with these types of injuries. It does not include the cost, which you will hear about later, that is incurred at 103 RESOLUTION 980124 institutions like this one to deal with long-term injuries, paralysis, other rehabilitation needs for people who are injured by firearms. Looking beyond firearm-related injuries, acts of violence to young Philadelphians below age resulted in 1,223 hospitalizations. 4 million. 9 Included are, or attached to my 10 testimony is, a more comprehensive report on all of 11 the violence-related injuries and their implications 12 for the health care system. 13 And, again, I want to thank the 14 members of the Council for focusing all of our 15 attention on this serious problem, and I would be 16 happy to answer any questions you may have. 17

Thank you 18 very much for your testimony regarding the personal 19 and financial toll of gun violence on all of us, the 20 young people, the families, the medical community, 21 all of us here. 22 And certainly what the young people say to you, will anything be different, will we make any changes as we double our commitment after these hearings today. And I certainly hope all of us will 104 RESOLUTION 980124 pledge to do that. Are there any comments or questions from the members of Council? Again, thank you very much. Not only for being here, but for all the work you have been doing through the years. Our next panel involves the victims of gun violence. And I would like to invite Loretta McLaughlin, who is the Executive Vice-President and COO here at Magee Rehab Center, Mark Chilutti and also Joe Davis. One of the other people scheduled to testify, Leslie Mickson, who was a victim of gun violence at the age of 15, is not able to be here today because she is again hospitalized for ongoing medical problems that she continues to suffer. So we want to thank her for having been willing to testify, and certainly hope she is able to recover again soon. So our first witness is Mark Chilutti. Would you like to begin?

Sure. I would be thrilled to. Good morning my name is Mark Chilutti, as I said. I speak to you this morning as a more 105 RESOLUTION 980124 experienced victim than one would like to be. Ten years ago I was hit by a drunk driver and I suffered burns, broken bones, temporary paralysis, and brain injury. I overcame it all, worked hard, and managed to open my own jewelry store. My business was doing great. I even carried a gun to protect myself, which made my life safer, at least I thought. Unfortunately, though, my gun was useless, and my dream life ended on December 5, 1996, with a single shot to my chest. I was a cooperative victim in the gun-point robbery of my jewelry store. In fact, I cooperated better than the two robbers did. But I got shot anyway. The bullet went into my chest, pierced through my lung, and severed my spinal cord. I knew at that moment I lost my legs. I could not begin to imagine at that time all of the other things that bullet did to me. I am now paralyzed from the chest down. Being paralyzed does not only mean that one 106 RESOLUTION 980124 cannot walk or feel. I also have no control over my bodily functions. That bullet took a lot more than just my legs; it took a big part of my life. Those that know me, however, know that I have accepted my injury better than most do. I wasted no time in resuming activities I could still do. I even spend a lot of my time talking about and helping others who are newly injured realize that it is not so bad, and life goes on after paralysis. I even have the ability to make it sound easy. But I accept this way of life because I have no other choice. Today's kids have a choice. And we need to help them make better decisions, and we need to start now. Things are bad on the streets, and the kids having guns make it worse. They see the glamor and the glory from crimes with guns, as portrayed in the movies and on the TV. But they also see it right on their street corner. You all know exactly what I am talking about, the guy with the flashy jewelry, lots of cash, and the big Mercedes. 107 RESOLUTION 980124 They only see half the picture, though. They do not see the gory and difficult realities that come with being shot. And it is not just the good guys that get shot. They don't see the guy using the wheelchair as his only way to get around. They and you did not see me wake up at 5:30 this morning to be here on time. The things that take you 30 or 40 minutes in the morning, take me a few hours because I was shot. They don't see me carrying bags in my teeth because I need both my hands to move my wheelchair, or the embarrassing times that, as an adult, I have a bowel accident in my pants because I can't control it. I could go on and on. They need to see this, though, as part of a hard-hitting, eye-opening educational experience. There has to be both dollars and time spent to reach out to the kids on the streets and in the schools. Whether it is through programs like Magee's Think First Program, which goes into schools to present these scenarios to the kids, or through a 108 RESOLUTION 980124 new endeavor which will begin this summer, as we were told earlier. And it needs to be presented to them by victims of crimes with guns, to really open their eyes. We can pay now for efforts like this, or we can pay later. We need to tackle this short-term expense now to be able to reap the long-term rewards. Or we can spend our money to pay the court costs, the medical bills, and the lifetime costs associated with criminals in prison, if we can even find the room to house them. As I watched the news last night, I realized that it has only gotten worse as the years go by. They showed a flashback story from 1988 of little 5 year old Marcus Yates who was killed by gunfire in the streets. I had to agree with his mom as I watched, we've not done anything to change things. It's too late to help him and it's too late to help me.

My destiny and my sentence was dealt to me when the trigger was pulled that day. I got life in a wheelchair. It is 109 RESOLUTION 980124 not too late for us to make an impact on the kids on the street. It can't be done by only a few, though. But with the help and resources and the powerful people in this room, we can surely help these kids to make a better choice. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Chilutti. Are you part of Magee's Think First Program? Like are there opportunities for you to tell your story and send your message to young people?

Actually, I think Joe is going to talk about that during his testimony. But, yes, victims are used to portray the examples in that program. Because we find for a person to stand and tell the story, it doesn't do the same as hearing it from one of us.

And also, again, a lot of people see the stuff on the news, someone is shot or someone is arrested, but often don't think of the lifetime, as you said, the lifetime sentence that you have gotten. 110 RESOLUTION 980124

Absolutely. MS. McLAUGHLIN: Do members of the panel have anything? Should we next turn to Joe Davis.

You have a Magee T-shirt on, so are you here at Magee now?

Yes, I am on the home team. Yes. Yes. Okay. I don't have a prepared text. And I kind of, I have worked, I think, a little bit better without a prepared text, not to take anything away from Mark here. As he said, we are either going to pay now or we are going to pay later. I heard the Mayor say that percent 17 of the guns are repurchased handguns that are sold 18 on the street, but I didn't hear him say anything 19 about the other 80 percent. 20 As a matter of fact, the person that's most apt to shoot you is the person that has the keys to your home. In 1980, a 14-year-old shot me in my back. I was years old at the time. And it was 25 found out later that he had gotten the gun from 111 RESOLUTION 980124 someone else's home. That's neither here nor there. The fact remains that I am still here in this wheelchair. And the possibility that that gun could have not been used is the thing that changed my whole life. For years I have been in this 10 chair. And for 17 years, I have had to look at the 11 world differently. 12 I did not deal with the fact that 13 some kid comes along and shoots me in my back very 14 well. For a lot of years the only thing that I did 15 was felt sorry and used drugs to anesthetize the 16 pain that was going on inside. 17 And in 1988, I tried to commit suicide. I am still undecided as to what were the reasons. I don't know whether it was because I was a drug addict, or was it because I was sentenced to a lifetime in this chair. I don't know. I am still grappling with that. But in 1988, I decided that I did not want to live that type of life any longer. I also 112 RESOLUTION 980124 decided that there had to be a greater purpose. And because of that, I decided that I would try and do something that would kind of try to fix some of these things that were going on. And with the help of Magee, you know, I am not trying to be the walking -- the rolling advertisement for Magee. But these folks, they kicked it in gear for me. And they have done the same thing for a lot of kids who have come through here. But all of the initiatives that people are going to be taking today, and going back, none of those things are going to work if we don't have prevention. Prevention, prevention, prevention is the name of the game. Because if we don't change the culture, the culture will remain the same. So why don't we try to change the focus a little bit, and try to influence behavior, instead of trying to change behavior. Look at it from a public health perspective. Why don't we start in elementary school, and carry it on through Grades through 12, letting kids know that there are different ways that 113 RESOLUTION 980124 we can deal with frustration, with anger. I mean, we have a program here called -- you have heard it, Think First. We have Think First for kids. Do you know that I am having trouble getting into the School District? I call and I say I am from Magee and I have a great program called Think First that can change, that can influence, and nobody knows about the program. And I call back and I say, this program works. I got the curriculum here, Grades 1 through 3. It works. And, on top of that, it will only cost you $250. And we'll train you to teach the program. And I am having an awful hard time, and I don't have money. I mean, can you imagine giving me, say, the amount of money that it would take to just care for myself in an emergency room situation? Do you know how many curriculums I could get into a school with $100,000, with $50,000, 25. $250, is a kid's life worth that? Is it worth that 50 bucks? We have to take a look at what we are doing. I mean, we are looking at legislative efforts. If we have legislative efforts 114 RESOLUTION 980124 and we don't have people who will do some followup, it ain't going to work. Okay, say we pass this law that says you can only get One Gun A Month. Who is going to be the watchdog for that? Are we committed to it? Are we going to look at it?

Say we pass legislation that if you purchase a gun, you have to buy a lock to go along with the gun. Are we going to have the personnel that will go around and take a look at that? Are we at war or are we not at war? Let's take a look at that first. Are we fighting? And if we are fighting, how much resources or how many resources will you put into the war? I think we are. We are at crisis. The crisis is, we're losing our children at an alarming rate. Now, what would you do to save your kid's life? Or anybody in the room, anybody sitting in the room, what would you do to save your kid's life? Is there a monetary award that you would put on it? You tell me. There ain't nothing I wouldn't do for my kid. There ain't nothing I wouldn't do for your 115 RESOLUTION 980124 kid. Are we serious? Are we serious? Thank you.

Could I ask if you had any direct conversations today with the Superintendent? Have you been able to get access?

I have written to the Superintendent, I have called the Board of Education, I have talked to two or three different people on the Board of Education, and everybody says that they will get back to me.

Somehow I feel now they will be getting back to you.

Friday morning I will be with the Superintendent, and we will get that moving.

I hope so. I hope so. And I would ask you, too, if you could, come to one of our presentations if you think we are not having some effect. We have got them for 15, 20 minutes. I got them. Come and listen to one of our programs. I am going to leave you with our 116 RESOLUTION 980124 curriculum, also. I want you to take it home, and you take a look at it, and you see if it is not a good program.

Is this the Think First Program?

This is the Think First for Kids Program.

I think we could work together to get the attention of the School District.

It is a program that I know works. I know it works. Take a look at it.

You are saying that I was thinking of my son in junior high. You know, you are always worried about your kids getting into drugs. And his mind got so seared right at the right moment with an anti-drug program in school, I guess is what got to him. And you never know what will get to a person at the right time. But for him, he saw this diagram or a movie of them pumping the drugs out of someone, and he said, "I don't want that to ever happen to me." So those can be very powerful, 117 RESOLUTION 980124 particularly if you catch a young person, get their attention at the right moment.

That's right. That's absolutely true. You just don't know how many testimonials that I have gotten from kids, as well as adults, who have said, "You know what? You opened my eyes here for a few moments." I had a woman last week. We were over at Roman Catholic last week and a woman came up to me and she said, "I heard you last year talk about drinking and driving, and how parents are sometimes responsible for what goes on." She ultimately left her husband because her husband would come, get the kids drunk, and take them, and take them for the weekend. And he would be driving around in the car drunk. She said she got a restraining order against the husband, and now she has full custody of her children. And all of that was a direct result of a prevention program that was sponsored by Magee over at Roman Catholic. Now, you know, that's kind of anecdotal, and I don't know whether or not it is true or not. 118 RESOLUTION 980124 But, again, I am getting things and I am hearing things from people, and the message is positive. Please help me. Help me out. Because the only thing I am trying to do is trying to save our children, that's all.

What grades?

1 through 12. I am trying to follow them until they, you know, they graduate and go on to college, is what I am trying to do.

Like Councilwoman Fernandez said, together I think that we can get them to review the program.

I appreciate it. I certainly appreciate it, yes.

Could we next turn to Loretta McLaughlin, then. And I think you have some information you would like to share. And, again, I want to personally thank you and all the Magee staff and people who are here that made these hearings possible today. MS. LORETTA McLAUGHLIN: Councilwoman Fernandez, members of City Council, and 119 RESOLUTION 980124 distinguished guests, my name is Loretta McLaughlin. I am the Chief Operating Officer at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. And on behalf of Dr. William Staas, our President and Medical Director of Magee, our Board of Directors and directors, and our patients who are here, we welcome you and thank you for hosting this hopefully changing hearing. Basically what I would like to do first, is if I could impose upon you, Councilwoman Fernandez, to move, we would like to show the results of a Think First program on our children, and also give an understanding of the lack of comprehension children have on the impact of a bullet wound. ) MR. McPHERSON: While we are having our technical difficulties, let me give you a little background. Think First program was originally designed to prevent spinal cord injury and brain injuries. 20 years ago, the focus was more on diving accidents, wearing a helmet when you are riding a bike. 120 RESOLUTION 980124 And as violence became one of the leading causes in the seven cities -- it is actually the leading cause of spinal cord injury -- the focus has changed dramatically. Joe Davis, who is our coordinator of the program, we go out to the schools. Currently it is junior high and high school. We are having difficulty getting into the elementary schools, as Joe indicated. And we use survivors of spinal cord injury and brain injuries to go through their experiences. There are a three components to it. The first part is actually a national Think First movie that goes over high-risk activities. There is then an anatomy lesson talking about the brain and spinal cord, and then there are the actual experiences of both a spinal cord injury and a brain injury person. What we are going to see is Kensington High School. And this is from a Fast Forward, Lisa Thomas Laurie went to the school, followed us, and taped. ) MS. McLAUGHLIN: We don't want to 121 RESOLUTION 980124 spend too much time, but I think it gives you the idea that our kids need prevention education, they need to understand that a scar is not the tatoo of the '50s and '60s, that they are risking their lives and they are risking their futures. There are two themes that come to light in this segment of the video. The first one is that our city youth have personal experiences with guns. It is frightening to think that many of our youth know someone who has been shot, or actually have been shot themselves. And, secondly, that most do not understand the life-change consequences of a bullet wound. It appears that the group with the greatest access to guns are either too young to understand the consequences or too high to care. Ten years ago a six-year-old boy was shot outside of a candy store and paralyzed as the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting. At that time the citizens of Philadelphia united to save our children. How do we explain the lack of progress we have made to a 9-year-old girl who, when she was 6 years old, watched as her mother was 122 RESOLUTION 980124 shot? A domestic fight. Her mother is paralyzed from the neck down, and three years later is still waiting for an apartment in an independent living center that would allow her to be reunited with her daughter. What should we say to the mother of a 22-year-old nursing student who three months from graduation made the mistake of going to a Chinese restaurant for take-out. She was robbed and shot. He is now a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic, much like Christopher Reeve, only without the financial resources. He could not accommodate the changes necessary in his home in Philadelphia.

He is now living in a nursing home in Jersey and is painting by holding the brush in his mouth. If you want to see his picture, it is up on the south side his room 19 on the 5th floor. The cost to society goes beyond the loss of a productive citizen, the ongoing cost of nursing care and the lifetime costs of the medical interventions and complications that occur as a result of a catastrophic injury. You heard from both Joe and Mark that 123 RESOLUTION 980124 have given their experiences. Obviously there is going to be a lot of change, because our format was supposed to be different, and I was supposed to be first. You have heard the firsthand experience of looking down the barrel of a gun. The number of admissions to our hospital for violence-related injuries continue to increase. The only thing that has changed in the last ten years is that it is not news anymore. Being shot is now the risk you take for living in an urban environment. We would like to see that changed. Each year, through our Magee-sponsored Think First Program, spinal cord and brain injured survivors go into our city schools and educate our youth on why they should not participate in high-risk activities such as drugs, alcohol, guns, or drinking and driving. In an effort to prevent spinal cord and brain injuries, it is our desire to expand this program, as you have heard, into our elementary schools with the support of the Philadelphia School District and also the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, whereby our teachers would be trained on modules 124 RESOLUTION 980124 that would increase the awareness of avoiding high-risk activities. Education is the first step towards prevention of death and dismemberment due to drugs, due to alcohol, and due to guns. The earlier we can educate our youth, the better an opportunity we have to affect change. Prevention is only one piece of the puzzle. We need to address two other contributing factors, and I don't think you can separate them, guns and drugs, and access to both. If we want to reduce truancy in high school, as Commissioner Richmond talked about, and high school dropouts, we need to provide an environment of hope. And that hope has to extend beyond hoping you will make it to school and home safely each day. We are committed to work with you to reduce the devastating effects of random violence, drug-related violence, and domestic violence in Philadelphia. We need three things to move forward; namely, education, legislation, and enforcement. Thank you. 125 RESOLUTION 980124

Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. And I would like to propose that we have three more panels left, one on law enforcement, one on what the courts are doing, and the third on what the community is doing. My best estimate is that will be about an hour and minutes of the hearing. So we 10 are a little bit behind. 11 I would, however, like to take a 12 precise five-minute break, and we will be back here 13 in five minutes to go with the law enforcement 14 panel. 15 So, again, thank you for your testimony and for all that you are doing. (Short recess.)

I would like to reconvene the hearings and call the panel on law enforcement efforts. I think we need some chairs back. And I would like to call Tom Stankiewicz, ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Huntley Palmer of the U.S. Attorney's Office, and our own Lynne Abraham, District Attorney. 126 RESOLUTION 980124 So this is our panel on law enforcement. Would Tom Stankiewicz like to begin, who is the Supervisory Special Agent of ATF. And I am not sure if he has other people with him. Again, I am sorry to keep anyone waiting. We tried to do a scheduling of our best estimate, and we actually got started on time this morning. So why don't we start with you, Mr. Stankiewicz.

My name is Tom Stankiewicz. I am the Group Supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms here in Philadelphia. I have been a supervisor here since 1991. What I would like to do is also introduce two other members of our organization, Larry Duchnowsky is the new Special Agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He recently transferred here from Chicago. And also Jeff Cohen is the Assistant Chief Counsel for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms here in Philadelphia. What I would like to do is give you a 127 RESOLUTION 980124 summary of what our task force does here in Philadelphia. In May of 1994, I began the task to initiate a task force to address the firearms trafficking problem in this city. And what we needed to do was figure out where the guns were coming from. I mean, that was our main objective. So our task force mission is to identify, immobilize, and incarcerate the illegal sources of firearms to the criminal element. The task force focuses its efforts on individuals and organizations that acquire multiple handguns and assault-type rifles for the sole purpose of arming other criminals. One of the first things that the task force had to do, we had a problem with what we call kitchen table dealers in the city. A kitchen table dealer is someone who gets a federal firearms license that pretty much operates from his kitchen table. He is selling guns out the back door. He is misusing the license without filling out the required paperwork, and maintaining no 25 records. And that was our first problem. 128 RESOLUTION 980124 So when we first started out, we joined efforts with the state, with the city, and with local Licensing and Inspection to make sure that all these licensees were in compliance with both state, federal, and local ordinance. At the time we had 136 firearms dealers in the City of Philadelphia. We reduced that number to approximately 40, which is where we are at today. And there are only approximately about federal firearms dealers licensed to sell 12 both handguns and long guns in the City of 13 Philadelphia. 14 Since the initiation of the task 15 force, we haven't had a kitchen table dealer 16 investigation in this city, so we have alleviated 17 that problem. 18 What we then have to do is address 19 where the guns are coming from after that fact. 20 The second thing that we did for the task force, okay, was, we needed to gather an intelligence-gathering system to find out where these guns are coming from and put it into a database so that we can, you know, identify the trends and the patterns of these firearms 129 RESOLUTION 980124 traffickers. What we did is, we prepared a firearms trace study, and I have given you a copy of that. And I would like to summarize some of that trace study for you for 1997. The Police Department recovered approximately 5,000 firearms. Of those 5,000 firearms, we traced 2,865. The reason why we traced those 2,865 is, they were directly tied to an arrest here in Philadelphia. So we are looking at the arrest guns. In the future we anticipate tracing all the firearms through an electronic process. That's one of the things we anticipate in the immediate future, to trace all firearms in the city. Funding has been provided for that. Of those 2,865 firearms, we broke it down into three categories: The juvenile group, under 18; the youth group, 18 to 24; and the adult group, and over. 23 We traced 342 firearms, you know, to 24 juveniles, we traced 1,287 firearms to the youth 25 group, and 1,236 firearms to adults. 130 RESOLUTION 980124 57 percent of those firearms were traced back to individuals under the age of 25. When we do a more specific analysis as far as age, year olds, we traced more guns to 6 19-year-olds than any other age category. 246 7 traces to 19-year-olds. That's 9 percent of the 8 entire trace study were traced to individuals at age 9 19.

10 And somehow that correlates exactly 11 with what one of the other people testified, you 12 know, people coming into the emergency rooms, being 13 shot, victims were 19, the median age. Again these 14 are people possessing the guns. 15 If you looked at it a little bit 16 further, between the ages of 18 and 21, 842 traces 17 were initiated against individuals 18 to 21. That's 18 30 percent. 30 percent of the trace study between 19 the ages of 18 and 21. To give you a little bit of background, I mean, in order to buy a handgun, you have to be 21 years of age. To buy a long gun, it is 18 years of age. If you see that, these are the people that can't even go in and actually buy a gun. So 131 RESOLUTION 980124 that the majority of the study is individuals possessing these guns that can't even legitimately go in and purchase the firearm. The next thing we did is, we took a look at the firearms as far as the successful traces. Okay? Where the guns are coming from. Out of those 2,865 firearms, about 1,600 were successful. So then we look at, where were they sourced. Okay? For the juvenile group, again, 80 percent were sourced right here in Pennsylvania. For the youth group, 76 percent sourced right here in Pennsylvania. The adult group, 81 percent sourced in Pennsylvania. You round it off, 79 percent of the guns that were recovered in crimes in Philadelphia were sourced right in Pennsylvania. That tells us where our problem is. We are focusing our efforts on Pennsylvania firearms. Some people have the misconception that guns are being trucked up here from the southern states. It is not to say that doesn't happen. We do make those types of investigations. But the majority of our guns are coming right from 132 RESOLUTION 980124 here. When we break it down even further, when we looked at counties in the surrounding area, where were the guns coming from by county, for the juvenile group, 52 percent bought here in Philadelphia. The youth group, 54 percent bought right here in Philadelphia. The adult group, 52 percent. Over 53 percent of the guns were sourced right here in Philadelphia. Again, that's where our problem is, and that's what the task force is doing. It is focusing our efforts on people buying guns here. To make a comment on 79 percent, that's the highest total. We have done this trace study for three years. That's the highest total that we have had to date. We used to have, in the '60s, 60 percent. Now it is up to 79 percent. And I will try to address some of the reasons, possibly, for that. We look at weapon type, the types of guns that these individuals possess. Of the 2,865 firearms traced, 2,592 133 RESOLUTION 980124 were handguns. That's 90 percent of the firearms traced were handguns, only percent were long 4 guns. 5 If you break it down more 6 specifically for juveniles, okay, juveniles possess 7 the pistol 65 percent of the time. Out of all the 8 traces, it was 65 percent. 9 And much like the youth group, the 10 adult group, it was over 60 percent. That's the type of firearm that they are carrying now, that's a pistol, and that's what we are faced with. We also have seen an increase over the years as far as what they call removing the serial number. Now they are trying to remove the serial number, erase the serial number to hide the identity of the purchaser. We had over 400 firearms with obliterated serial numbers last year. We entered these into the database. That's over 14 percent of our entire firearms traced. So we enter those into the database, we try to identify who those people are. Because, again, they are going to continue to possess those types of firearms. 134 RESOLUTION 980124

Is it correct, you can still get the number.

Yes, it is. There is a misconception. They think that by erasing the serial number, that it cannot be raised or the serial number cannot be reproduced. And there are processes, you know, that the Chemical Analysis Unit and the Police Department and the ATF laboratory will raise the serial number and give us that information to trace the firearm. And we found out nationally that over 50 percent of firearms with an obliterated serial number are part of a multiple purchase. That's what they are trying to do, hide the identity of the multiple purchaser. Calibers of guns. We looked at the types of guns, what kinds of guns are they possessing. Okay? In every group, the 9 millimeter pistol was possessed more often than any other firearm. It was approximately percent. One out 24 of every four guns in their hands was a 9 millimeter 25 pistol, and that holds for every group there. 135 RESOLUTION 980124 In 1996, 30 percent of all juveniles possessed a .38 caliber revolver, while now 1997 only percent possessed a .38 revolver. The 5 number has really skyrocketed to juveniles 6 possessing pistols, even in one year. 7 We talk about manufacturers. We can 8 sit there and go as far as who the most common 9 manufacturers were. We outlined that in this 10 study. 11 I don't want to get into great detail, because I could talk for possibly a half an hour or hour as far as what the trace study does. Besides doing what we do with tracing firearms, once we trace that, that tells us where to look, who to attack. And that's what our task force does. We conduct proactive investigations, you know, using investigative strategies to target these individuals. I will go into a brief summary of some of those types of cases. One individual pled guilty in November of 1997, he made false statements in connection with the acquisition of approximately 53 firearms. 136 RESOLUTION 980124 He utilized the Pennsylvania Concealed Weapons permit as identification, which exempted him from the Brady five-day waiting period. That issue was raised earlier. You know, how are they using this Permit to Carry? Well, the Permit to Carry in order to get one, you have to go through a background investigation. And that background investigation is similar to what would be done through a Brady check. So that allows them to avoid the Brady five-day waiting period, and that is a problem that we are faced with. And I will discuss that at the end. I mean, that's what we are up against right now. This guy was arrested while driving a stolen automobile in which he was transporting four Intratec Tec-9, 9 millimeter pistols to a drug trafficker in Philadelphia. He admitted to trafficking the firearms to area drug dealers and street gangs in the City of Philadelphia. Some of his guns were recovered in violent crimes, narcotics, as well as in the hands of juveniles. 137 RESOLUTION 980124 We have another individual, you know, previous ATF-convicted felon who was charged with conspiring to purchase and sell 55 semi-automatic assault rifles, high powered rifles, magazines, high-powered scopes, and laser sights. He would drive throughout Philadelphia in the high-crime area, get out of the car, pop the trunk, and negotiate the sale of AK-47 type assault rifles to local Philadelphia drug traffickers. He was recently convicted in federal court.

What did he get?

Sentencing is pending. He even negotiated a sale in a schoolyard. Another individual, age 19, you know, charged with making a false statement with the purchase of an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle. This gun was recovered at a homicide scene, along with another pistol. He is allegedly involved in one shooting incident, also allegedly being charged with homicide, you know, in this district. 138 RESOLUTION 980124 So he goes in and he steals one gun, takes another gun, and reeks havoc in the city, and he is years old. 5 Another individual, back in February 6 '97 Officer Dulaney was shot six times in an armed 7 confrontation. Officer Dulaney returned fire and 8 killed the suspect. 9 And a trace of the suspect's firearm 10 reveals that that gun was purchased by an individual 11 that we had under investigation. He was a suburban 12 resident. 13 These crimes happen outside in the 14 suburbs, as well. It is not just in Philadelphia. 15 Suburban resident. Lied on the form, as far as you 16 know his address. 17 We go to interview him, we interview 18 him, he sits there and says, "All my 11 guns, I 19 think, are stored in an abandoned automobile, in the trunk of that car." We go to the car, open it up, and they are not there. "Oh I guess they were stolen." Those are the kinds of stories we hear. That gun was responsible for shooting a police officer. The good news, though, is he gets 139 RESOLUTION 980124 convicted of that in Delaware County, again for lying on the form. At least we are getting the prosecution. I think I can't make that point more clear. There is a great cooperative effort between us, the Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, the U.S. Attorney's office. I mean, we have really come a long way in this area as far as firearms and firearms prosecution efforts. I can't say enough for the task force and the agencies that are involved with us. I mean, no matter where we go, we will get somebody prosecuted, whether it is in the federal system or the local system, for firearms. We are doing it, and we are going to continue to do that. That gives you some idea, some of the investigations that we are doing. If I could, I will just discuss some of the current trends that we are faced with. Multiple purchases of firearms, that's what our unit deals with. Every day, day in, day out, seven days a week, okay, people are making multiple purchases of firearms. And that's what our task force is addressing. That's how the guns are being 140 RESOLUTION 980124 trafficked into the hands of criminals. The use of the Permit to Carry a concealed weapon to avoid the Brady five-day waiting period. Obviously there are thousands and thousands of permits that have been issued. I am not here to say that all those people that are carrying a concealed weapon are misusing that permit. But what we do have is, we have people out there that are misusing that permit. Instead of using it to carry the concealed weapon, they are using it to make wholesale purchases and supply the guns to criminals. Currently, since August of '96, is when it really picked up. As far as the Permit to Carry Act acquisitions, 64 percent of our trafficking investigations deal with individuals with Permits to Carry. The Permit to Carry allows them to walk into a gun store and walk right out with as many guns as they want. That's what it allows them to do. The dealer, by the time he could pick 141 RESOLUTION 980124 up the phone and call us, the individual has already walked out of the store with three or four or five guns, and we are trying to play catch-up and trying to find out where he went. Many times they lie on the form, they don't even provide the correct address. So we are playing catch-up to these types of investigations.

If I recall, I remember when it happened, when the state acted to not allow us to have much more restriction on Permit to Carry. And I remember at that point we had about a thousand people a year getting permits, and now it is up to 10, 12 thousand a year. And it made me afraid as a citizen to think all these people are walking around with concealed weapons, and now you are bringing up the other piece of it. It allows some of these unsavory types of people to use that to buy all these multiple weapons.

Yes, that's true. And, again, that's something we are focusing on. 142 RESOLUTION 980124 That's our biggest problem area right now, as far as working these individuals using the permit, because again we are working catch-up. We are working to try to find out where they are going. And by the time we get to them, I mean, the types of investigations we are doing, I could give you some of the numbers that we looked at. You know, 88 guns, 60 guns, 50 guns, 40 guns, 37 guns. I mean, these are all investigations we have conducted since the task force initiated. The number of guns just increased. The store purchase still exists. But why send somebody in to purchase a gun and pay them $50, when you can get a Permit to Carry, when you can buy five or six on your own, and you don't have to pay anybody. The store purchase does exist where somebody pace $50 to buy a gun or two. But that's been put on the back burner right now, so that we have these other people just going out and making wholesale distributions to the criminal element. Another thing they are doing, they 143 RESOLUTION 980124 are reporting the firearms stolen. You have heard that before. As soon as somebody goes in and makes the gun purchase, they are told, basically, to go into the police district and report the gun stolen, this way they feel like they are covering themselves. You know, as soon as the guns were sold, they were stolen, and I don't know what happened to them. So if they are recovered in crimes, okay, they have an answer for us, that they were stolen. So we are faced with that. Making multiple purchases of assault rifles, there is no background check or a multiple-purchase form requirement. Is that a major problem? It is a problem that we are seeing. Because they know the reporting requirements now for handguns. They know the task force is out there working handguns. So now you have individuals saying, okay, we will try to avoid the multiple-purchase requirement, so we will go and buy assault rifles and AK-47's. And the damage that an AK-47 can do is just immense. The caliber round of what it can do, it goes through a ballistic vest, it can go 144 RESOLUTION 980124 through the car wall. So that's some of the things they are doing. And that pretty much concludes, I guess, our efforts with respect to trafficking. They did mention the IBIS system, the Integrated Ballistic Investigative System. That is something that we are also working with the Police Department to do. It is pretty much like a fingerprint, you know, of the shell casing, as well as the bullet itself. So every firearm, basically, has a fingerprint now. And it is a computerized imagining system that catalogues and records that. And that's important, because we can now sit there and show that a particular firearm that might have been used in East Police Division in a shooting or possible homicide, that that same weapon might have been used out in Southwest Philadelphia, it might have been used in North Philadelphia. So that all of those are categorized and catalogued so that the same gun, we can actually track, you know, that it is being passed from hand to hand. 145 RESOLUTION 980124

Again, thank you for your testimony. Let's move on to Huntley Palmer, with the U.S. Attorney's Office, who has also been working very closely. Again, it is very important that these three offices have been working so closely together.

Good afternoon, Councilwoman Fernandez. Thank you for inviting us to speak this morning. My name is Huntley Palmer. For the record, I am here today on behalf of Michael Stiles, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. S. S. Attorney's Office. In my testimony, I will briefly address the rising rate of firearms here in Philadelphia, offer a perspective on some of the contributing factors to that rise in rate of firearms violence, and then to suggest some possible 146 RESOLUTION 980124 responses to curb firearms violence in Philadelphia. The federal government initially got involved in this matter by virtue of the Attorney General back in 1996, November 1996. The Department of Justice did an evaluation and identified 8 cities in the nation where violent crime was 9 increasing, contrary to the national trend that was 10 going down. S. Attorney's Office in each of those cities to work with local officials to begin to identify some of the causes for this rise in violent crime. Philadelphia, in fact, is one of these nine designated special cities. And Philadelphia is the largest of these designated special cities. S. Attorney's Office, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, ATF, Philadelphia Police Department, FBI, and others involved in law enforcement. 147 RESOLUTION 980124 After meeting several times, we consistently concluded that the largest single factor on those contributing to the rise of violent crime here in Philadelphia was, in fact, the easy availability of firearms and resulting rise in the number of handguns on the streets here in Philadelphia. As the chart there on the easel shows, for the last decade, with respect to Philadelphia homicides, from 1988 to approximately 1997, we have had a fairly steady rate of homicides, just about in the area of 400 per year. However, that chart also reflects more troublesome, and what kind of brings us here today, the fact that you will notice from 1988 to the present, there has been a steady rise in the incidence of homicides and other violent crimes, quite frankly, that are committed with the use of a firearm. We had the rate in 1988 of approximately 65 percent. And it has steadily increased over the years, peaking last year into approximately 82 percent of the homicides are now committed by the use of firearms. 148 RESOLUTION 980124 And as to robberies, I can tell you that 55 percent of the robberies in 1997 were committed with a handgun. This increasing rate of homicides that have been committed by use of a firearm, and similarly so with robberies and aggravated assaults, clearly has placed Philadelphia as the leading major city in the nation with respect to firearms violence. To further compound Philadelphia's problem with respect to firearms violence, as Tom Stankiewicz just indicated, when you look at the ATF tracer results with respect to firearms, those firearms that are successfully traced and identified as firearms used in violent crimes, the large number, substantial number, of those firearms are emanating from within the City of Philadelphia's borders. So we are, in fact, contributing largely to our own rate of firearms violence here. In 1996, 42 percent of the close to a thousand firearms recovered by Philadelphia Police Department as crime guns were traced to licensed Philadelphia firearms dealers. In 1997, 53 percent of the over a 149 RESOLUTION 980124 thousand firearms recovered by the Police Department were traced again to licensed Philadelphia firearms dealers. I mean, in the past year, between that year of 1996 and 1997, we have had an increase of percent in the number of firearms, 8 specifically handguns, for the most part, that are 9 traced to licensed firearms dealers, and 10 Philadelphia being the source city for those 11 firearms.

In addition, in most of our federal investigations for these kind of offenders, we are finding that firearms trafficking in terms of the underlying mode, when you look at it, clearly a lot of them are involved in the firearm tracking offenses, because this is a financially lucrative venue for them. These firearms traffickers are commonly and routinely enlisting what is commonly referred to as store purchasers to assist them in buying firearms for their criminal purposes. The store purchaser is used to basically indirectly buy dozens of handguns for convicted felons and persons who are prohibited from 150 RESOLUTION 980124 buying firearms because of their status. Several store purchasers, you will find for the most part, are the backbone of most of these firearms traffic organizations. They will identify not one, but anywhere from six or more individuals to go out and actually conduct store purchases. And firearms purchased by these store purchasers will definitely find their way, and have found their way, into the underground firearms market, and ultimately are sold to, in fact, violent offenders. Store purchasers are, in fact, very violent to the traffic organization because, as Tom has indicated, they are used to acquire multiple handguns, and do so very efficiently with the use of a Permit to Carry concealed weapons. With the permits, they circumvent the five-day waiting period under the Brady law. And anyone, basically, who is 21 years of age, does not have a criminal record, and pays a nominal fee -- here in Philadelphia County, I believe it is $19 -- gets a permit. And as you yourself, Councilwoman 151 RESOLUTION 980124 Fernandez, referred to, the number of persons who are now acquiring permits has absolutely skyrocketed. Prior to 1995, when at least at that time it was uncertain as to Philadelphia's ability to, in fact, legislate in the area of firearms, there were not very many individuals who, in fact, acquired a Permit to Carry a concealed weapon. In fact, in any year in early '90, the number never went over approximately 1900 people.

And you needed to show clear reason.

After that point, it became clear that we were precluded from state law by prohibiting firearms, and Philadelphia had to come into conformity with the rest of Pennsylvania and, in fact, issue upon request, basically. Then things have changed substantially. For the last two years, the total number of applicants exponentially increased from 1996, there were 12,900 applicants; in 1997, there were 10,428 applicants. And approximately each year, 90 percent of the applicants were, in fact, 152 RESOLUTION 980124 granted permits. So, basically, from our perspective as the federal government, we are looking at Philadelphia with the ease of availability of firearms, raise in violent crimes, homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults, and a growing number of Philadelphians who are engaged in the firearms trafficking for the monetary benefit. It is our position -- and we work with ATF and the District Attorney's Office and the other members of the Philadelphia community -- to adopt a comprehensive strategy to respond to firearms violence that has increased over the last decade. As a matter of policy with respect to trying to device and implement a strategy, the Department of Justice precludes me from endorsing any particular strategy or legislative initiative to reduce firearms violence here in the City of Philadelphia. However, having articulated that policy limitation, let me emphatically state that this office encourages this city and all those in this effort to, in fact, explore innovative programs 153 RESOLUTION 980124 and strategies to reduce firearms violence here.

We will do the lobbying for you.

And we encourage you to employ a cooperative strategy that we have already started in place here that will involve both local, state, and federal members in the law enforcement community and, as importantly, other governmental and nongovernmental entities toward this effort, the objective being to form a joint working group to develop a multifaceted approach to resolve this problem. As I heard today, the health aspect of this is as important. The preventive education proponent to this problem is as important. So clearly this should not be something that should just be looked upon as a law enforcement problem. Consistent with this joint comprehensive effort, you may wish to review existing legislation -- and I have heard this talked about today -- in several jurisdictions that already have limited the number of handguns in their jurisdictions that any individual may purchase within a 30-day period. 154 RESOLUTION 980124 As stated earlier, this type of legislation has been commonly referred to as the One Gun A Month law, and is designed to interrupt the flow of firearms to the underground firearms market. The States of Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina have enacted such statutes recently. Now, there are some that would question the utility of this legislative approach because, arguably, what happens is that when one jurisdiction enacts a statute, firearms traffickers may move to a neighboring jurisdiction. But clearly this kind of statute does, in fact, undermind the effectiveness of firearms traffickers who are dependent upon store purchasers to acquire and buy a multiple number of firearms in a short period of time for resale in the underground market. Second, it seems here that the city has aggressively undertaken the steps to design and implement an aggressive policing policy to reduce firearms violence in Philadelphia. We look forward to working with Police Commissioner Timoney and Deputy Mayor Richard 155 RESOLUTION 980124 Zipelli to significantly reduce the rate of firearms violence here in Philadelphia. If Philadelphia is to system the steadily growing rate of firearms violence, however, you have to go, in our opinion, well beyond law enforcement measures to impact the supply and use of firearms in this city. The city has to mobilize the community at large, the churches, the synagogues, the electronic and print media, and all others concerned with the city's future to make the point about the dangers that are associated with this steady rise of firearms violence here. We agree with the Mayor and Commissioner DiBerardinis in their earlier comments that there has to be an extensive prevention program that educates the general public, particularly given what we have all heard here today, the juveniles and the youth, about the dangers associated with firearms. That kind of preventive program has to be a vital component of any firearms strategy. S. Attorney's Office will work with the City of Philadelphia in all if its various 156 RESOLUTION 980124 entities to fashion such a comprehensive program that includes a legislation and public education campaign. Let me conclude by saying clearly the city's facing an unprecedented rise in firearms violence. And it clearly impacts every sector of this city; not simply those sectors in North and West Philadelphia that directly are experiencing the rise in firearms violence, but clearly it does indirectly impact all sectors of the city, especially as we try to go forward and grow and invite tourists here to share the fruits of this city. And clearly a comprehensive local, state, and federal response is warranted to reverse this trend of firearms violence and to ensure the public's safety. The United States Attorney's Office is committed to working with the Philadelphia community to facilitate the implementation of an effective strategy to reduce firearms violence in Philadelphia, and we look forward to continued work with your office and others who share the same agenda.

157 RESOLUTION 980124 Thank you.

Thank you. Next I would like to turn to our District Attorney, Lynne Abraham, who has been a long-time fighter and advocate of dealing with gun violence. So thank you for coming. DISTRICT ATTORNEY LYNNE ABRAHAM: Thank you. It's quite all right. I am happy to be here. In the interest of time, I believe that we serve on the task force with both Commissioner DiBerardinis and, of course, the ATF, Philadelphia Police Department, Mr. Palmer's office, and I echo many of the sentiments previously expressed. One of the things that I would like to do, in digressing from my notes for a moment, is just to suggest to the committee that in listening to the trauma surgeon who testified earlier today, one of the things that we need to consider when we look at the charts submitted by Mr. Palmer and his office is that firearms violence is not just relegated only to the commission of violent crimes, 158 RESOLUTION 980124 but guns are very closely associated with a large amount of suicide and accidental shootings. And I think we can't forget that many of our youth commit suicide with firearms, usually firearms already in the home. And I think that any comprehensive program is going to have to consider youth suicide. For example, we looked to with great anticipation going to Boston. My friend Ralph Martin is the District Attorney of Boston. We will be visiting with him in the near future to talk a lot about his programs in Boston where for the past at least year there have been no deaths caused by juveniles, save one. And they were very disturbed when a 17-year-old committed a crime of a homicide with a gun. But what happened in Boston, interestingly enough and very alarmingly, over the course of the winter, there was a significant up-tick in youth suicides. And they were very concerned that they had seven or eight suicides in very close order, most of them committed with firearms. One I think was by hanging. And we are going to ask Ralph about that. 159 RESOLUTION 980124 But it is important that we bear in mind that these incidents do happen. Suicide, especially amongst our youth, are extremely troublesome to me and to other practitioners of wanting to make our society safe.

And that's what's really useful about this Youth Fatality Review Committee. It is looking at youth suicides and accidental deaths. DISTRICT ATTORNEY ABRAHAM: Prior to coming here, I went to that committee, which members of my office serve on, including me, someone from our family violence and sexual assault unit, John Dulaney from our Juvenile Unit, who is here with me also to talk about any questions that the committee might want to invite their attention to, and Ken McDaniel, who is the assistant chief of our Municipal Court Unit, where last year we handled over 67,000 matters. In addition to that action, I wanted to not let the moment pass without also reminding the committee, something which I am sure you already know, and that is that a large number of accidental shootings that occur with not only children playing 160 RESOLUTION 980124 with guns, but just people looking at guns or thinking guns are unloaded or fiddling around with firearms, there has been a movement to make gun manufacturers more responsible. And one of the things that we have considered is suing gun manufacturers. I think the time is right. I don't think there is a better time than the present to sue gun manufacturers. Now, the difference between gun manufacturers and cigarette manufacturers, just as a caveat -- not to get into it too long in the discourse -- is that cigarettes were marketed as something that is healthful for you, pleasurable, fun, sexy with it. Guns are in and of themselves lethal. So the lethality of guns are different from cigarettes. Where you can take a cigarette, pick it up, smoke it, put it down, and never pick it up again, or you may have a habit for it. But the manufacturer of a cigarette, while not in and of itself one cigarette lethal, one gun in and of itself is lethal. And there is no 24 pretense as to what guns are manufactured for. Lethality is part of the reason they are 161 RESOLUTION 980124 manufactured. And while we do import a substantial number of firearms into this country, most of the firearms that are used in crimes are manufactured right in the continental United States. California, the Southern United States, Connecticut being the primary manufacturers of guns. So a firearms lawsuit does have inherent problems because of the lethality of weapons, of destruction. But I believe that the firearms manufacturers are ready for litigation, which suggests even though they are producing a lethal product, that they can take precautions to make sure that these weapons are safer. One of the issues is a lock that fits over the trigger and the grips which must be locked. The other is technologically driven, and that is a chip which is matched to, allegedly, this is the theory, that a person can grip the grips, and the gun identifies the person gripping it. The problem with that is, of course, 162 RESOLUTION 980124 that we have manufactured millions and millions and millions and millions of guns. Maybe we have -- nobody really knows the figure of guns we have in this country, but it is estimated one for every man, woman, and child. And of those 250 million guns already in existence, plus others coming in from foreign countries, starting off is a good beginning, but we have to understand that this is a monumental task. Finally, I think we need to discuss the role of the courts in all of this. Mr. McDaniel for the Court Unit and John Dulaney for the Juvenile Unit can attest to the frustration of the prison cap. I can tell you that any time a possession of gun person, person charged with and convicted of possession of a weapon under the Uniformed Firearms Act, gets a jail sentence is probably -- the chances of a judge doing that are slim and very very slim, absent a prior criminal record for violence. And we need to concentrate more on appropriate penalties, one of which can be the educational aspect of training people with guns.

163 RESOLUTION 980124 It doesn't take any training to get a firearm, and it doesn't take any training to get a permit any longer. You just walk in, and you get a permit. I think that firearms training is extremely important. Awareness, intervention, those kinds of things are extremely important. And a program that we are looking into right now, which is started in Detroit -- now this is a targeted program to a specific audience -- they have a program called HIP, H-I-P, and that is Handgun Intervention Program. It is a program that is mandatory for all youth who are arrested for firearms violations. Before they are released on bail, as a condition of their being released on bail, they have to put up the bail money. But then they must attend a four-hour Saturday morning class. It is presided over by a judge named Judge Lipscomb, L-I-P-S-C-O-M-B, Willie G. Lipscomb, Jr. There have been, to date, over 5,000 participants in this program. In Detroit, the targeted group is young African-American men, first and/or second 164 RESOLUTION 980124 offenders, with no serious current charges. And the goal is to prevent handgun violence by changing their behavior before violence occurs. Its message is of hope and encouragement, of education, of being shown slides of people who have met injury or death by handgun violence. Much as the news clip from Lisa Thomas Laurie was talking about, kids don't understand that, as on television, you don't just say ouch, and you die. Many people do say ouch and do die. But many people live for long periods of time, hemiplegic, quadriplegic, paraplegic, extraordinary pain, injuries to the head which creates all kinds of other different service determinants. And, more important, more people are being shot with multiple gunshot injuries. It is not uncommon for us to see people shot four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten times, with these 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistols that Huntley was talking about a few minutes ago, and which our ATF men and women know all too well. The semi-automatic pistol is au 165 RESOLUTION 980124 courant. Smith and Wesson is nothing. It is looked upon with disdain. And I think the extraordinary number of children with guns is a testament that they want to carry millimeter, the other high-power 7 pistols. 8 And, of course, the important weapon 9 that goes with the weapon of the pistol is the weapon of the fire, the cartridge, the bullet. This program, to get back to the HIP program, aims to end up affecting the demand side of the problem. They want to modify behavior of this high-risk group of young people. They want to use adjudication of delinquency as an opportunity for prevention. And they don't know, because it is too soon, whether this program will be successful, but there is anecdotal evidence that it does have a positive effect. So we need to concentrate, yes, on prison, and for long periods of time, when the crimes are violent and the injury serious. And parenthetically, listening to 166 RESOLUTION 980124 Mr. Chilutti this morning, the person who is the actual shooter is to be sentence, and I can't speak about him. The accomplis in that robbery got eight years. Very, in my judgment, minimal sentence for that kind of heartless crime. S. Attorneys, District Attorneys, church groups, pastors, religious leaders and citizens, but several years ago, shortly after I became the District Attorney, I have subscribed to the Journal of the American Medical Association for years, and they started to do a series of issues, they and the other journals, trauma and so forth, on violence. And the JAMA, in 1992 had a whole article, a whole series of articles, in this book on handgun violence, and they talked about the extraordinary calculus of handgun violence in our culture. They also talked about guns and domestic violence and so forth. But this is an area where physicians like Dr. S. Attorney's, ATF, people of good will, including this organization, can make a change.

A newspaper reporter came up to me just before I came up and said, do you think any of this would make any difference? And I said, "I don't know. " Let's at least air the issues, get them discussed, find out a protocol or plan of action, a policy statement, if you will, as to what our intentions are, to see if we can reduce the amount of death. For myself, I am really tired of going to the medical examiner's office and seeing this endless array of bodies that met their fate at the business end of a semi-automatic handgun. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Thank you very much for your testimony here today. But, even more important, for all the work you have been doing, really digging in at this issue from your law enforcement perspective, and then working together in a team. It's really working together to tackle this problem. So thank you very much for coming, 168 RESOLUTION 980124 and we will keep you informed of followup initiatives. DISTRICT ATTORNEY ABRAHAM: Thank you very much for providing us with the opportunity.

I would like to call up our next panel. We have two panels left, representatives from the courts, two of our excellent judges, and then the community's response. I would also note, while they are coming up, I would like to thank the staff from several of the Councilmembers' offices who have been here, Councilwoman Tasco's staff, from Councilman Longstreth's office, from Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller's office, and from City Council Tech staff. So I am sure they will be taking this information back. And from Councilman O'Neill's office. Okay. Did I miss anyone else? We have two of our outstanding judges from here in Philadelphia who have been passionate on this issue. So I would like to call C. Darnell Jones, Managing Judge of Adult Probation and Parole, 169 RESOLUTION 980124 and Paul Panepinto, Administrative Judge of Family Court. Again, I am sorry to keep you waiting, but hopefully maybe you learned a few new little bits of information from the testimony. Judge Jones. JUDGE C. DARNELL JONES, II: Good afternoon. And Councilwoman Fernandez, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak and address you and the committee this afternoon. As a Common Pleas Court judge assigned to the Homicide and Major Criminal Trial Division of the Court, and as a parent, I am acutely aware of the devastation and despair caused by the misuse of both legal and illegal firearms. Approximately three months ago, my 14-year-old son and others were robbed at gun point as they waited for a SEPTA bus to take them to school. years in the criminal justice 22 system did little to prepare me for the helplessness 23 that I felt when he ran home at 6:30 in the morning to let me and his mother know what had just occurred. 170 RESOLUTION 980124 Too many parents, however, are informed of the tragic event by police or hospital personnel, who all too often are calling to notify the parent that their child is dead, dead from yet another killing committed with a firearm. I appear in my capacity as Managing Judge of the Adult Probation and Parole Department for the Court of Common Pleas to apprise you and the committee of some of our ongoing efforts to address this and related problems. All persons convicted of the offense of possession of a firearm are subject to a sentence ranging from probation, with or without conditions, to incarceration. The statutory maximum sentence is five years or seven years, depending upon the specific charge. The maximum fines which may be imposed are $10,000 and $15,000 respectively. The sentencing process is discretionary with the trial judge. However, sentencing guidelines exist to assist the court in imposing an appropriate sentence. The exception to the normal discretionary aspect of the sentencing process is in 171 RESOLUTION 980124 the area of mandatory sentences. These mandatory minimum sentences are applicable for a certain class of offenses, primarily those committed with a firearm. For example, an individual convicted of first degree robbery, and who visibly possessed a firearm during the robbery, must be sentenced to a minimum of five years incarceration. The sentence is the mandatory minimum required by state law. The law does, however, allow for imposition of additional sentences for other crimes committed in connection therewith. In addition to the fundamental and supervisory aspects of probation and parole, the Adult Probation and Patrol Department enforces any additional and unique conditions imposed by the sentencing judge which apply to a particular county probationer or parolee. These conditions may include house arrest, electronic monitoring, work release, community service, special counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, vocational counseling, obtaining a GED, and other orders to stay away from a victim, a witness, or a particular area.

172 RESOLUTION 980124 The department is also working with the Handgun Violence Deduction Task Force, as well as neighborhood organizations, to specifically target offenders who are affecting the quality of life in various areas and neighborhoods throughout the city. Currently, we are in discussions with the Office of the District Attorney to device and implement a sentencing protocol wherein defendants convicted of certain classes of offenses are directed to comply with a state statute which forbids said persons for owning or possessing any firearm. Additionally, we are also developing protocols which allow for the identification of an individual to whom the statute applies when the probation supervision is transferred to Philadelphia County from another jurisdiction. Systems are already in existence which readily allow for the identification of persons arrested for new offenses who are currently on probation or parole. If the new arrests or conviction they are on constitutes either a technical or direct 173 RESOLUTION 980124 violation of an individual's probation or parole, the individual must appear before the original sentencing judge for a violation hearing. On the subject of what specific recommendations I have, while I agree with all those who have spoken before me that we have to have an amalgam of solutions to the problem, I would, in addition thereto, posit idea of early and continued childhood education in the dangers of guns and violence, and against the adolescent perception that such an ethic is acceptable or beneficial. I, therefore, strongly urge consideration of an organized mini-curriculum sponsored jointly by the justice system and the School District addressing the civic responsibility of students in the context of ethics and law-abiding conduct. The knowledge, skill, and talent of far too many justice system professionals are not being shared with the school-aged children of our city. To approach the problem jointly with the School District would allow for a legitimate text-based curriculum for a 30-minute period once a 174 RESOLUTION 980124 week. Our learned experts have a wealth of knowledge and experience which would benefit the vast majority of those destined to keep our city alive, vibrant, and competitive. I am certain that qualified instructors and lecturers would volunteer their time and assistance for such a structured program. As a practical matter, I am acutely aware that teachers and students can barely afford the time to compact all of the normal curricula into the regular school week. However, as a judge who sees so many former students come before me charged with gun offenses, I submit that we cannot afford the ultimate price to be paid by a failure to address the problem in a more creative way, even if it costs some minutes of the conventional curriculum. As a city resident and parent whose children attend public schools, an entity in which I have a vested interest, I caution all that there will not be a viable Philadelphia if the fearful leave, leaving only the feared. It is so much more cost effective to 175 RESOLUTION 980124 teach our children not to do, rather than lock them away for the consequence of what we fail to teach them or what they fail to learn. Last, lest I neglect to address one other unsuspect avenue of disaster, I leave you with the attached editorial from my comment to the August 18, 1997, edition of the Philadelphia Daily News. It is an editorial concerning an individual whom I sentenced for having been convicted of third-degree murder by a jury. The article reads, "Found guilty of third-degree murder for shooting a fleeing teenager he had mistaken for a burglar, the tearful proprietor of a West Philadelphia luncheonette faced Judge C. Darnell Jones. '. ' asked Judge Jones. 'How many lives have you ruined, including your own? " Thank you.

Thank you, Judge Jones. Now turn to Judge Paul Panepinto of Family Court. JUDGE PAUL P. PANEPINTO: Thank you, Madam Chairwoman Fernandez, for being here. I appreciate the opportunity to testify. I am Paul Panepinto, the Administrative Judge of the Court of Common Pleas Family Court Division. The Juvenile Court in Philadelphia has always been concerned about the possession, use of guns by juveniles in the City of Philadelphia. Juvenile Court administrators have been meeting with other city officials to discover the scope of the problem and really take steps to intervene. Some of my testimony here today will be to give you some facts and statistics about the 177 RESOLUTION 980124 juveniles that are arrested and the categories of those arrests, and also some of the things we have been doing in Family Court at the present time. And we have participated over three years in monthly meetings of the Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Youth fatality Review Team, which examines the history of every victim and perpetrator of youth homicide. Many lessons have been learned from these sessions. The review team determined the juveniles arrested for carrying a gun may later use a gun in the commission of a crime. As a result, an interagency committee designed an intervention program for juveniles who are adjudicated delinquent for carrying a gun, which is called, that program is called, Don't Fall Down In The Hood. Don't Fall Down In The Hood project is city funded, it is an intensive community-based program to reduce the possession, use of firearms among Philadelphia youths. Juveniles who are adjudicated delinquent in Philadelphia Family Court for firearms violations are ordered to the program as a condition 178 RESOLUTION 980124 of probation or discharge from institutional placement. And they are under the supervision of juvenile probation officers. We have also learned that some victims and perpetrators of homicides had outstanding juvenile bench warrants. And we have taken some steps to locate juveniles with bench warrants in some of the programs we have initiated. The juvenile court has also participated in the work of the Handgun Violence Reduction Task Force. This group has developed strategies to reduce the accessibility of firearms to juveniles and to educate the public to the harm caused by firearms. It is difficult to ascertain precisely how many young people 17 or younger have recently carried a gun on the street or used a firearm in the commission of a crime. The data that that we have in the Juvenile Court represents only those cases where an arrest and a juvenile trial took place. In 1997, juveniles charged in Juvenile Court with possession of a firearm, the total were 470 charged with gun offenses in 179 RESOLUTION 980124 Philadelphia. These cases fall into two main categories: Those in which possession of the firearm was the only charge, or the most serious charge, and those which a more serious charge, such as robbery, aggravated assault, car left were also involved. Now, of those 470 referred, 203 were charged only with a possession of a firearm. 267 were also charged with a more serious felony. In 1996, as a comparison, the statistics were somewhat similar. 456 juveniles were charged with gun offenses, 183 were charged only with the possession of a firearm, and 273 were charged with a more serious felony. Since March of 1996, juveniles in Pennsylvania, 15 to 17, who were charged with a violent crime involving a weapon, including a firearm, are initially charged in the criminal court as adults. These cases are often referred to as direct file juveniles. A judge may transfer the case to the Juvenile Court for adjudication if it is judged to be in the public interest. 180 RESOLUTION 980124 The use of a firearm by a juvenile in the commission of a violent crime is very disturbing.

Of the 470 juveniles charged in 1997 with gun-related crimes, 172 juveniles were arrested for violent crimes committed at gun point, and often involving more than one victim. This group falls into two subgroups: Those to who are arrested initially as adults, 11 and later transferred from the criminal court back 12 to Juvenile Court, and those 10 to 14 years old who 13 are initially charged as juveniles. 14 Now, of those 172 juveniles, 41 are 15 between the ages of 10 and 14, and 131 were between 16 the ages of 15 and 17. 17 These 131 juveniles were transferred from the criminal court back to the Juvenile Court. As far as dispositions of firearm cases in Juvenile Court in 1997, during that time, that year, 1997, we disposed of cases involving 472 juveniles charged with gun-related matters. It is interesting to note that the dispositions included of those 472, 150 commitments to institutions, 97 probation cases, 8 were then 181 RESOLUTION 980124 transferred to the criminal courts, but 217 were dismissed of the charges. Those committed to residential facilities were placed in state and private institution for delinquency, including facilities with programs for youth in need of mental health and substance abuse treatment. Following the release from institutions, these juveniles are supervised in the community later by probation officers. Since the fall of '97, most juveniles who were placed on probation for firearm violations are ordered to participate in this program, Don't Fall Down In The Hood. A brochure describing the program has been attached. And I have distributed it not only to you, Madam Chairperson, but to all members of City Council in the testimony that I was going to provide today. And they have copies of the brochure. This day treatment program was developed by the court, the Department of Human Services and the Health Department, in working with the District Attorney's Office and other agencies, 182 RESOLUTION 980124 in response to requests from the Philadelphia interdisciplinary Youth Fatality Review Team for an intensive and specialized intervention with juveniles found in possession of a gun, in order to prevent additional prevention or use of a gun. The program which I have described is also funded by the Department of Human Services and operated by the Institute for the Development of African-American youth, in conjunction with St. Gabriel's System, is making some headway in showing young people the unnecessary and devastating harm caused by guns. It is really one of the first initiatives in the country designed specifically to stop juvenile firearm recidivism. m. , and on Saturdays, for a period of about four months. Thus far attendance is high, and participation in the program is good. Court staff are monitoring the program and are encouraged with the early results. 183 RESOLUTION 980124 The Juvenile Office of the District Attorney's Office is also working with the court and the program administrators to identify suitable candidates for the program. Recently, juvenile probation administrators and the staff of the Don't Fall Down In The Hood program made arrangements for nighttime home visits to make sure the juveniles are observing the curfew. This visiting service is being provided by the court-operated Police Probation Partnership Program. We are working with the Philadelphia Police Department, all the agencies of government to do what we can to reduce the violence. And in March of 1997, the Juvenile Probation Department and the Juvenile Aid Division of the Police Department began a joint program to visit homes in the community of juveniles on probation who needed additional intervention to comply with the requirements of probation. Probation officer and police officer arrived together in a police car. The project was modeled in part on a 184 RESOLUTION 980124 program developed in Boston.

The target population of the partnership is high-risk juveniles, including those who are on bench warrant status, those not reporting to their probation officer, and those with known involvement with guns and drugs. During '97, the police probation teams made over 400 visits to homes and known hang-outs of targeted juveniles. Some juveniles with bench warrants surrendered to the court after a visit, others were arrested. The police and probation officers tested different ways of getting juveniles to comply with probation rules and conditions. In early 1998, the program was expanded. Training was conducted in February involving the District Attorney, as well as the police and probation staff. A new unit was established in March through the Juvenile Probation Department called Intensive Police Probation Partnership Unit. This unit commits more probation officers to the program, each probation officer working with two district police officers on patrol 185 RESOLUTION 980124 making day and night visits to homes and neighborhoods and places where youths congregate. Truants are stopped and made to go to school. Fugitives are sought out, including escapees from juvenile programs. Within two weeks of the initiation of the unit, 130 home and school visits were made, and 35 fugitives were persuaded to surrender on bench warrants or were taken into custody. It is our hope that juvenile arrests for gun-related crimes will decrease, but we will continue to monitor the flow of the new gun-related cases in the juvenile court, and continue to work in collaboration with others to try and reduce it. I want to say personally that it is the responsibility of parents to be on top of their kids and monitor them and what they are doing. And we know how violent it can be. The problems are with the kids having guns and being able to posses them. We as a court system are doing what we can to work with the other agencies of government in this regard, but we are definitely in favor of the school being more involved in teaching kids what 186 RESOLUTION 980124 is involved with violence and carrying a weapon, the parents being more involved with the school, home and school associations in getting involved in this project. And we as a court can deploy staff and also be involved in working with them in this regard. Because we have probation officers in the schools and we have counselors available and people on staff that would be willing to participate in any program that would be helpful. The Don't Fall In The Hood Program, I think, is working out well for the short time it's been in existence. But as you note, that involves getting involved after an arrest is made. We would like to see the training and work in teaching kids before an arrest is made. If that could be done and implemented, I think that would be something that would go a long way in reducing the problems that we are facing. And programs after school, to keep the kids busy are also important. And this idea of keeping one involved after hours is one that we are high on, and other ones. And I heard the District Attorney 187 RESOLUTION 980124 mention the Detroit project. It seems like a good project, and we are going to have to look into that and see how that can help. Funding is always going to be a problem when we get into additional programs. But I think that the funds are well worth spent in this area. Because it is not getting better. It is really getting worse. And, over the years, as long as I have been involved in probation and sitting as a judge, the violence amongst youth has grown. And we all know it is a serious problem. But getting down to the solutions is difficult, but it has to be addressed. And I praise the committee for working in this area, and at least getting started on it. And hopefully with the truancy projects and some of the other things in the Family Court, we can help reduce the problem all the way down the line. And I want to thank City Council for inviting me again.

And, as always, we will and hope to continue in the spirit of cooperation with the community, all agencies of government to make our 188 RESOLUTION 980124 city a safer place to live. Thank you very much.

Well, I do want to thank both judges. Your courts are an important part of this link, both for properly sentencing people who have submitted violent crimes, and then doing anything you can to prevent repeat offenders. So we do want to thank you for what you do each and every day. Thank you. JUDGE PANEPINTO: Thank you for having us.

Our next panel, and will be the last, unless I am notified otherwise, certainly very important, is some additional prospectus from the community. And I would like to ask Rosemary Matthews, who is a community organizer with Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, and Danista E. Hunte, Program Officer/Reserve Associate from Philadelphia Health Management Corporation. Thank you for waiting so patiently. We are about an hour behind, but your testimony is very important. So we thank you for being here. 189 RESOLUTION 980124 Rosemary, do you want to go first.

Good afternoon. My name is Rosemary Matthews, and I am the Community Organizer at Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. " We have all seen and heard and used those words many times in our lives. But I want to say now that if we don't start acting as though our children are our present, then neither of us will have a future. Everyone in this room can relate to an incident in their community where a child has been killed by a gun shot at the hands of another child. Sometimes it has been accidental, more often not. Not too long ago two young men's lives were ended in a pizza shop several blocks from my home by a teenager who chose to resolve a difference by going home and getting a gun, and calmly, in the middle of the afternoon, in broad 190 RESOLUTION 980124 daylight, in a public place, walking up and shooting them. If you watched the coverage, you saw the emotional response of other youths as they stood by. They were frightened. They were stunned by how suddenly death takes place. Not long ago I was on a bus going home from work on 18th and Walnut. Among the people getting on the bus was a rather ordinary-looking young man. As he passed me, however, I saw sticking out of the side of his slanted pocket the butt of a gun. I was terrified. I wanted to get off the bus, but my legs just did not want to support my standing up. So I sat there frightened and praying that no one on the bus did anything to upset this armed person and set off a shooting. Needless to say, I was very happy to see him get off the bus. One warm spring evening my grandson and four of his friends were playing basketball on the corner of 59th and Osage. 59th Street is a relatively heavily traveled street, lots of cars and lots of people. 191 RESOLUTION 980124 As I stood telling my neighbor that my grandson had asked me not to call him in the house anymore, because it made him seem like a baby, I heard four gunshots. As the first one sounded, I looked to the corner where he was playing, but there was no 8 movement. The second shot rang out, and little children began running and screaming. By the third shot, my grandson and his friend blurred past me going into the house. As I still looked on, I saw about six teenagers run around the corner and into a house in the 5900 block of Osage Avenue. It was only later when I heard the ambulance siren did I realize someone was hurt. I learned later from some children who were out there that the shooter had pulled the gun and waived it around for several seconds. Those involved in the argument had actually moved away from him before he started shooting. He then shot into the crowd and hit one of them, but really risked the lives of other children who were out there playing. 192 RESOLUTION 980124 If our children are not our present, they will not be our future. The promise of gun control legislation as a way to reduce firearm carnage among youth has been held hostage to an adult ambivalence to gun control in this country. Traditionally, this adult ambivalence has meant that a well funded well organized opposition has called the legislative tune on gun control in this nation. The future of our children demands that we make changes in the availability of guns now, today. Do we have to be shocked by the nightly news of armed children killing and wounding adults and children to realize the gravity of the problem? In Philadelphia, the availability of guns has taken away the future of scores of little children, some in death and others in jail. Families are forever changed. While we know there is no single answer, no magic poof and it is gone, we do know that there are a large number of strategies that 193 RESOLUTION 980124 groups across this country are beginning to try. Each one of us must take responsibility as both individuals and in our work to get guns out of the hands of our children and our communities. We must act with great urgency.

In many communities law enforcement has taken the lead in implementing innovative strategies. We are all familiar with the Boston plan, the tremendous success they have had in reducing death of children by handguns. Kansas City has implemented a plan that is seen as being held as successful. And ATF has an Achilles program that is helping to get guns out of communities. Research suggest that one of the ways that young people are able to get guns so easily is because there is no limit on the number of guns that can be purchased by one person at any time. By limiting a purchase to One Gun A Month, researchers suggest that we could drastically reduce the number of guns available for resale to children or unlicensed adults. We at PCCY support this effort as one 194 RESOLUTION 980124 of the ways to reduce the number of guns available to children and youth. We support any legislation that will limit the availability of guns to young people. We will support a suit against gun manufacturers. We urge the elected officials of this city to work with our communities to rid our neighborhoods and our schools of handguns. Help us to make our communities safe for our children and others in our community. And I just want to add at this point, because of Judge Panepinto's remarks, that we will be joining Commissioner DiBerardinis in ICE Violence. But also on Monday, I will be meeting with some people at the School District to talk about family gun control, where we are asking parents, caretakers, to take responsibility for what happens in their houses, to make a pledge that they will not have a gun in their house. And we are going to try to put in motion numbers that they can call if they want someone to come to their house and get a gun, but also some workshops that help parents to understand 195 RESOLUTION 980124 how to take control of your family, realizing we have a lot of young parents who just don't understand how to do that. So we are hoping that also will help to reduce the numbers of guns that are in families that can be gotten in an argument. I want to conclude my remarks with a quote by a study of Dr. Don Schwarz of Children's Hospital. "Youth violence in America has been studied for years and from every conceivable angle. " Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Hunte hunt.

Good afternoon. My name is Danista Hunte, and it is H-U-N-T-E. I work as a Program Officer and researcher at Philadelphia Health Management Corporation. 196 RESOLUTION 980124 Thank you for this opportunity to speak to the committee of City Council and other concerned members of the Philadelphia community. I am representing the Violence Prevention for Youth and Communities Program, which is an integrated collaborative community agency funded by the William Penn Foundation and managed and coordinated by PHMC. We are a nonprofit public health organization that is committed to improving the health of the community through outreach, research, planning, technical assistance, and direct services. My remarks today will speak to the need for concerned public-held approach to the problem of handling handgun access by young people, and also to tell you a little bit more about the program because it does involve a concerted community approach. Firearm violence as it relates to youth is a public health issue. Youth are the hardest hit with one in three deaths among youth between the ages of and in Philadelphia due to firearm injury. 197 RESOLUTION 980124 A study commissioned by the William Penn Foundation of the emergency department visits by young people under age revealed that one out 5 of three of the visits for the most serious injuries 6 is caused by firearms. 7 Unfortunately, children readily 8 acknowledge that firearms and firearm violence have 9 become a regular part of their lives. 10 According to a national study of high 11 school students, one-fifth of male high school 12 students in Philadelphia reported carrying a 13 firearm. 14 We have learned that many youths 15 carry firearms as a means of protection because they 16 have witnessed violence or have been victims 17 themselves. 18 In this context, a purely punitive 19 approach to firearms and youth is not likely to be 20 strong enough to compete with the daily fears and 21 need for self-defense that is perceived by many of 22 our youth. 23 It is our view that the 24 responsibility for the context in which violence 25 occurs must be shared by all members of our 198 RESOLUTION 980124 community. In addition to reducing youth access to firearms, we as a community must work to create a safer environment for the youth of this city, an environment which counters the belief that possessing a firearm is essential for daily survival at home, in school, and in our neighborhoods. This requires comprehensive multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural approaches that address both the underlying roots of the problem and the day-to-day manifestations of the problem. The Violence Prevention for Youth and Communities Program was designed with this multi-level prevention approach in mind. Unfortunately, the massive numbers of guns in circulation contributes to the frequently held perception that violence prevention is beyond the immediate reach of either individuals or community law and policymakers. This need not be true. A study of community violence prevention programs found that the majority, two-thirds, of community programs indicated that access to firearms for young people is a major 199 RESOLUTION 980124 problem in their community. However, only a handful had active campaigns to address this issue. This study was one of a number commissioned by the William Penn Foundation to serve as the basis for the violence prevention for youth and communities program. This program was developed to address an immediate and long-term need for multifaceted public health prevention programs to reduce the impact of violence on children, adolescents, and young adults. It is clear that the complexity of violent behavior defies a single solution with regards to prevention. This task requires a participation of everyone from grass roots, to agencies, to government.

Our program is based on objectives of increasing community collaborative efforts focusing on violence prevention, increasing youth leadership in community violence prevention, and in increasing capacity for community members and agencies addressing youth and community violence prevention. There are four interrelated components of this program. And I would ask you to 200 RESOLUTION 980124 please refer to the attachment, which includes the location of the grantee sites in Philadelphia and 4 Camden. 5 The Peacemaker Projects are 16 6 grantee collaboratives which represent over 100 7 community agencies with neighborhood teams of adults 8 and youth who develop and implement violence 9 prevention activities in their local communities. 10 Peacemaker components may include 11 convict resolution training, martial arts, peer 12 mediation, safe quarters, improvisational drama 13 troops, and community clean-ups, just to give you a 14 few examples. 15 The Care Giver Connection includes 16 four programs to reduce the impact of witness to 17 violence among very young children by enhancing the 18 capacity of those who work with young children to 19 better respond to issues of community and family 20 violence. 21 Care givers can be parents, teachers, 22 counselors, daycare workers, school nurses, and 23 other caring adults. 24 The Health Care Connection includes 25 four provider community partnerships treating young 201 RESOLUTION 980124 victims of violence. These partnerships will include training and coordinated referral protocols to link health care professionals with community-based violence prevention efforts. And the firearms connection, is supported by a community consortium investigating and addressing the issue of firearm violence in North Philadelphia, two zip codes, 19132 and 19121. This consortium was established to assist and empower neighborhood residents in understanding the entry of guns into their communities and helping to develop programs addressing the access, risk, and consequences of weapons. The Violence Prevention for Youth and Communities Program also has a youth advisory panel, whose mission is to enlist young people to act as leaders and advisers for the program and to serve as a voice for youth. Young people are keenly aware of the negative images of youth that exist in mainstream media. Through the development of videos, a periodic newsletter, media events, community 202 RESOLUTION 980124 outreach, and a youth conference, the youth advisory panel plans to respond in a way that will counter those images. As I said earlier, the complexity of youth firearm violence defies a single solution. It is necessary for every concerned person, adults and youth, grass roots and government, to participate. The first step is to demonstrate a commitment to working together to solve this problem. The Violence Prevention for Youth and Communities Project seeks to increase both resident involvement in community safety and intergenerational communication and interaction. We are attempting to link community resources and sources of technical assistance in conjunction with key individuals, Dr. Paul Fink, and that I am one, who have been working in the field of violence prevention. We have developed a schematic referred to as the Resource Diagrams, which provide a vehicle with which people can find resources to help them take responsibility, serve, get information, and find help. 203 RESOLUTION 980124 The Resource Diagrams present resources in various disciplines, such as schools, family violence, the court and justice system, media, health care, and faith base to just name a few. Copies of the Resource Diagrams have been distributed at a previous City Council hearing; however, further copies can be made available by calling our resource line, which is 790-7218.

As part of this resource connection, our program is joining with the Mayor's Cabinet, Handgun Task Force, and other concerned community groups in the summer campaign, ICE Violence,. I Can End Violence, this campaign is designed to be inclusive of all concerned citizens and programs working with building connections within the community around violence prevention, encourage individuals, organizations and governmental agencies to make a commitment to change current behaviors and attitudes toward the use of firearms and violence in general, and to provide tangible alternatives to the risk of violence. And again further information about the ICE Violence summer campaign, there is a 204 RESOLUTION 980124 resource number, 790-7218. Again, thank you for this opportunity to present.

Thank you. Your testimony, there is a very interesting mapping to look at zip codes and the programs and stuff. And I was thinking as you were talking, the Boston program that was mentioned earlier had not only just one homicide last year, but they had gone two and a half years before that with no youth homicides by gun violence. And certainly that's a model, and that's my goal, to have Philadelphia have no youth deaths as caused by gun violence. And I think Boston had good law enforcement. They have a state with much tougher gun laws than we have. But another key element of their success was this broad network of community-based programs that really prevented young people from getting into trouble and going down the path of crime and violence. So thanks for all you are doing. And I know you work closely together as both an advocate 205 RESOLUTION 980124 group and as a servicing group. So thank you both for coming to share today what you have been doing and how you are also taking a piece of this complex puzzle and attacking this problem.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Can I ask, were there any other persons who wanted to testify? Or have I missed anyone? Well, as we conclude these hearings, I would like to note and follow up on what the young person had asked Dr. Kauder. And that was, will anything happen after we leave here today. And certainly for me, I think we all are motivated to redouble and triple our efforts to attack this problem. As far as I am concerned as an elected official, as a Councilperson, hearings are only one step in a process. These public hearings are a way to raise onto the public agenda the crisis we have with our youth, the health crisis, and how totally unacceptable it is to have so many children be the victims of violence, and also the 206 RESOLUTION 980124 perpetrators of violence. So I think as far as I am concerned, I have learned a lot in preparing for these hearings. I have learned a lot today, and this is part of a public record for City Council. But what will be important is how we then follow up to implement some of the programs that have been discussed today, and how we follow up and monitor how effective they are, and keep looking for any other new ways to tackle this very complex multi-pronged problem. And certainly as I look at it, there are two major areas: One is prevention of youth violence, and the other is protection of our young people from violence. And I think today we have heard that many people are already doing things, are taking initiatives, have some very effective programs. And some of those that I heard, and we heard testimony on, were certainly direct education, and the fact that the various groups are already trying to educate our young people to try to prevent them from going down the wrong path. And that would include what Magee is 207 RESOLUTION 980124 doing and what Judge Jones proposes be done to really intensify our education programs. Also the media campaign that the city intends to launch this summer, ICE Violence, I Can End Violence initiative, I think, again, is a sign of a lot of people coming together to attack that part of the problem. And then also reported today in these hearings were the kinds of solid programs in neighborhoods, like we just heard from Ms. Hunte, but also an expansion of those programs through the Robert-Wood-Johnson-funded program, $10 million to help to create safe and sound neighborhoods in the City of Philadelphia. Then we also heard of the program where the Police and the Probation and Department of Human Services are working together to prevent further violence among young people who have already been caught carrying firearms. And that program, Don't Fall Down In The Hood, may be a way to prevent some very at-risk young people from getting into deeper and deeper trouble. And then certainly, again, what PHMC 208 RESOLUTION 980124 is doing with the violence prevention for youth and communities, it is a comprehensive interconnected approach. We also heard today what various agencies are doing to protect young people, our youth and the rest of us, from violent young people and violent adults. It certainly starts with, we must do all we can to tighten and toughen state legislation. And it looks like our most hopeful attack at this point is the One Gun A Month bill. Again, it is sorry that we live in a state where that is sort of the one thing that may be able to get through the state legislature. But certainly our permissive gun laws are a major issue. 's Office is doing in terms of gun tracing, to try to get a better handle on who is using illegal guns and trafficking in illegal guns, and getting them into the hands of young people. We also learned about the 209 RESOLUTION 980124 weapons-related injury surveillance, where the medical community will help us further understand the causes and the background and to help us try to trace where these guns are coming from and how the injuries occur.

A third thing we heard of is what is going to be done to try to either persuade or force gun manufacturers to work with us, instead of against us. And then some of the law enforcement efforts about cracking down on people with bench warrants and tracking them more carefully, along with having much more close supervision of people who are on probation already, and having the police and probation officers and the courts really keep a close eye on people who have already started down the path of violence and crime in the city. And then, also, toughening, having tougher justice for youth offenders and repeat offenders. So what I have heard today, there are a lot of initiatives underway. A lot of people are working diligently day in and day out to try to do what they can from their angle. 210 RESOLUTION 980124 But I think it is clear that we all have a role to play. We as elected officials in the city, state, and federal level, whether we are legislative officials or part of an administration, we have a very heavy and somber responsibility to do all we can and to step up our efforts. We certainly need the help and cooperation and the voices of young people who can often say it like it is, and maybe could reach some of their peers much better than some of us as adults. We certainly need increased help from parents, to speak out about their pain and their fear and their experience, and to do all they can with their own children and other people's children. We need the advocates from groups like Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth continuing to raise these issues. We need the continued help and support of the medical community, who picks up the damage and heart break, both the medical community and people who deal with the victims and families left behind. 211 RESOLUTION 980124 And then certainly our schools can play a very important role in preventing violence and protecting our young people. What was missing today was, I did not hear much from our religious community. And I know in Boston they played a very powerful role. And maybe that's something we need to find out if more is happening that we are aware of. And also today I didn't hear in any concerted way from our business community or our labor unions, who also have a lot of power, clout, and resources. And perhaps they could be invited to come to the table and see what they could add in terms of voices and resources and action and programs to tackle this problem. So my goal for the City of Philadelphia, I'd love to see the day when we are like Boston, where they have no young people killed at the hands of someone wielding a gun, and we could go for years with no young person killed. And on top of that I would like to see no young person be a killer in our society. Because our young people are both being killed as victims, and they are also killers as victimizers. 212 RESOLUTION 980124 And that needs to end, and certainly the message has been loud and clear at these hearings today. So today is one more step in a long process. As I mentioned earlier, I intend to reconvene these hearings in September, so we can get an update about what has been done of many of the good ideas that have been here, and maybe we can get others involved in a concerted effort to protect our young people from gun violence and to prevent more of our young people from going down that very dangerous and ugly and damaging path. So I want to thank each of you for being here today. I see Matt Chilutti is still here, and I want to thank you for your very powerful testimony and all that you do to continue to educate young people and others about what some options could be, and then also what the dreadful consequences are when they kill someone or leave someone injured for life. So thank you for coming. And I want to thank my staff person, Beth Moy Jang, who put these hearings together.

And I also want to thank our hosts 213 RESOLUTION 980124 from Magee, Bob and lore Loretta McLaughlin, again thank you, and Theresa Ford from Magee. So thank you and see you again in September. ) - - - 214 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, April 29, 1998, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES _____________________________________ DEBRA A. WHITEHEAD, RPR