GUN CRIMES HIT HOME -- PSN RELEASES NEW ADS TO REDUCE GUN CRIME

COLUMBIA, South Carolina - The Department of Justice, in partnership with the Ad Council and the Mullen advertising agency of Boston, Massachusetts, today announced the launch of new public service advertisements created on behalf of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative designed to reduce gun crime nationwide. South Carolina's implementation of the national PSN program is called Project CeaseFire. Building on the momentum of the first series of PSAs launched for the campaign in 2003, this new set of TV, print, and radio advertising delivers a strong message about gun crimes and their consequences. Copies of the new public service advertisements have been sent out to all public service directors of local media outlets. Project CeaseFire's statewide media efforts are coordinated through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers' Association (SCLEOA).

These new PSAs help reinforce PSN's strong message about responsibility and accountability, and realistically illustrate the emotional and psychological prison to which a family is sentenced when a loved one is incarcerated.

"These ads demonstrate how gun crime affects not only offenders, but their families as well. Through these ads, we hope to deter potential offenders from committing gun crime in the first instance. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement colleagues in the community, community members and our local schools to actively reinforce the strong message of 'Gun Crime = Hard Time,'" said Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Gasser. "We are working tirelessly to return our neighborhoods back to law abiding citizens. To date, this initiative has generated over a 150% increase in federal firearm prosecutions in South Carolina.

The nationwide multi-media campaign will focus on key media outlets in South Carolina, as well as other state and national media markets across the country. It includes print, radio, and TV PSAs designed to educate offenders and their families about the serious consequences of gun crime. All of the PSAs will run and air in advertising time and space donated by the media. Please visit http://www.psn.gov to preview the spots, or for additional information about this important initiative.

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National Scope, Local Impact. Project Safe Neighborhoods is the Bush Administration's initiative to combat gun crime. By linking together federal, state, and local law enforcement, prosecutors and community leaders, PSN provides a multi-faceted approach to prevent and prosecute gun crime. While national in scope, each community's PSN task force is working to design and implement a local approach to combat the unique gun crime problem that area faces. Prosecutors pursue the strongest possible punishment for those who violate firearms statutes. Community partners, through services and resources provided by PSN, work to prevent gun violence before it occurs through such efforts as aggressively educating their constituents and at-risk youth about the consequences of gun crime. To date, the Administration has dedicated over $1 billion to support this initiative.