Commander of Pittsburgh police

straw purchases, offering alternatives, proliferation of handguns

–       Thinks that firearm education in schools is important and supports the DARE program that is taught is PGH

–       When asked about his opinion about Child Access Prevention Laws he refused to comment.

–       He believes that one of the key ways that crime can be reduced in the community is to offer alternatives to youths.

–       He works to target violent groups in the community and put pressure on them, and make it so that the police’s presence is felt.

–       He believes that straw purchases are a much larger issues when it comes to hand guns getting into the hands of criminals and he suggested that we talk to the Firearms Tracking Unit, which is part of the ATF. He connected us with someone in the firearms tracking unit, but they did not want to comment on anything.

–       He said that most of the high profile crimes in Pgh are from homicide and sexual assault, and that on average there are about 3-4 shootings per month in Pgh.

–       He also believes that it is very rare that children are “accidently” shooting themselves or being shot. He sees gun violence as a product of conflict.