[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 5, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PROJECT EXILE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the talk around town is the paranoid 
gun control crowd that want more gun restrictions and more government 
control over guns.
  If they had their way, some of them would actually outlaw the Second 
Amendment, and the result would be that the people would have no guns. 
The only ones that would have guns would be the government and, of 
course, criminals who ignore gun laws. I call it the ``Mexico model.''
  Guns are outlawed in Mexico. The citizens cannot possess guns. There 
is no Second Amendment and so the government has guns and criminals 
have guns. Some of those criminals have guns thanks in part to the 
United States Government sending 2,000 assault weapons to them in Fast 
and Furious. But that's another story.
  U.S. cities are moving toward the Mexico model. Chicago and 
Washington, D.C., have laws that make it very difficult for a citizen 
to exercise the Second Amendment. These cities make it difficult to 
even own a firearm. But all three places--Mexico, Chicago, Washington, 
D.C.--all have a reputation of being violent, unsafe places. Why? 
Because they are.
  If D.C. was so safe, why are government guards everywhere in the 
city? Even here in this Capitol building, there are armed guards on the 
roof, at the doors, at the back doors, at the doors over to the east 
and to the west. It's hypocritical of the gun control crowd in this 
Chamber to say ``more guns for me, but not for thee.''
  If these cities were safe, gun control laws would work, but they 
don't work. But there is a Federal law that the city of Richmond, 
Virginia, took advantage of, and it goes back to 1997. Richmond, 
Virginia, was one of the top five U.S. cities with the highest per 
capita murder rate in the United States. So the city used a Federal law 
to help them control the crime problem. Project Exile is the name. The 
local and State government voluntarily cooperated with the United 
States Attorney's Office in gun prosecutions.
  Here's how it works: if a local or State law enforcement official 
arrested some criminal for a felony offense but the person also had a 
gun, the State official could voluntarily transfer the case to Federal 
court because in Federal court the person could be prosecuted by the 
U.S. Attorney's Office and get an additional 5 years in the Federal 
penitentiary because the criminal, the drug dealer, had a firearm in 
their possession.
  It's a simple plan that worked quite well. In fact, it worked so well 
that in the first year Richmond, Virginia's homicide rate was down 33 
percent. By 1999, homicides in Richmond, Virginia, were down 97 
percent--all because the criminal was prosecuted for unlawfully 
possessing a firearm and the government put their resources where they 
should: prosecuting criminals that use guns in the commission of their 
offense.
  The law held the criminal accountable and exiled him out of the 
community. That's where the phrase ``Project Exile'' comes from. He was 
exiled from the community to the Federal penitentiary where other 
criminals were.
  Lock the gun-toting crooks up and send them away. What a novel idea: 
a law that's already on the books. Maybe violent cities like Chicago 
and Washington, D.C., should look at Project Exile and hold criminals 
accountable for the violence that they commit and not be misguided by 
some who continue to assault the Second Amendment and not punish 
criminals.
  Maybe our system should focus on the person who commits the crime 
with the weapon as opposed to trying to punish really good folks that 
own firearms and exercise their right under the Second Amendment to 
bear arms.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________