PRINTER'S NO. 3946
No. 761 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY KIRKLAND, WASHINGTON, ROEBUCK, GOODMAN, WHEATLEY
AND JAMES, MAY 27, 2004
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MAY 27, 2004
A RESOLUTION
1 Establishing a task force to investigate the rapid influx of
2 illegal guns and drugs into poor and minority neighborhoods.
3 WHEREAS, African Americans were found to be nine times more
4 likely than whites to be victims of gun-related homicides; and
5 WHEREAS, Between 1993 and 2001, African Americans accounted
6 for 54% of victims of firearm violence but only 12% of the
7 United States population; and
8 WHEREAS, According to the United States Department of Health
9 and Human Services, the rate of deaths due to firearms in
10 Pennsylvania in 2000 was 7.9 per 100,000 for whites and 27.2 per
11 100,000 for African Americans; and
12 WHEREAS, Trafficking of illegal drugs tends to be associated
13 with the commission of violent crimes; and
14 WHEREAS, Pittsburgh serves as a regional drug distribution
15 center where most illegal drugs brought into the city are sold
16 to local users, but a portion of those drugs reach midlevel and
17 retail distributors in southwest Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and
1 northwestern West Virginia; and
2 WHEREAS, Philadelphia remains a center of activity for the
3 importation, wholesale distribution and street-level sales of
4 illegal drugs on the East Coast; and
5 WHEREAS, In 2002, 65% of adult males arrested for a violent
6 offense in Philadelphia tested positive for drug use; and
7 WHEREAS, Researchers have concluded that heavy drug use
8 increases the probability of gun violence at older ages; and
9 WHEREAS, Locations in which street drug markets proliferate
10 tend to be disadvantaged economically and socially; and
11 WHEREAS, According to the United States Census Bureau, in
12 2002 an estimated 24% of African Americans and an estimated 22%
13 of Hispanics lived in poverty; and
14 WHEREAS, According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
15 members of racial and ethnic minorities are, in general, more
16 likely to be arrested, more likely to be convicted once arrested
17 and more likely to be incarcerated once convicted, and the
18 disproportionate representation of minority group members is
19 especially true for drug-related offenses of virtually all
20 types; therefore be it
21 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives establish a task
22 force to investigate the rapidly increasing influx of illegal
23 guns and drugs into poor and minority neighborhoods; and be it
24 further
25 RESOLVED, That the Governor, the President pro tempore of the
26 Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the
27 House of Representatives and the Minority Leader of the House of
28 Representatives each appoint one member to the task force; and
29 be it further
30 RESOLVED, That the task force gather members of local police
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1 forces, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania
2 National Guard to aid in the investigation of this trend; and be
3 it further
4 RESOLVED, That the task force report its findings to the
5 General Assembly not sooner that six months nor later than one
6 year after the approval of this resolution.
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