CENTER4NEIGHBORHOODS

Know the Gun LawsIf you or someone you know fits into one of the following categories, you should know that it’s illegal to possess any type of gun or ammunition, and prosecutors are standing by to seek convictions in federal court:

• Convicted felons (convicted at state or federal level).
• People under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year.
• Whether you have ever been convicted of any crime, if you use or brandish, display, carry, or possess a firearm in a way designed to further or carry out a drug-trafficking crime or a federal crime of violence, you can be chargedin addition to the crime itselfwith a federal firearms crime.
• Fugitives from justice (interstate flight to avoid prosecution or testimony).
• Aliens in the United States illegally or on temporary status.
• People who have been dishonorably discharged from the armed services.
• Anyone subject to a court order (protective order) forbidding that person from stalking, harassing, or threatening an intimate partner or that partner’s child.
• Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime involving violence or a threat with a deadly weapon if the convicted person was the victim’s current or former spouse, live-in boyfriend or girlfriend, parent, or guardian.

Think the above doesn’t apply to you or those you might know in your neighborhood? Think again. A study conducted in 2006 by the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health revealed that 38 percent of all households reported owning at least one gun. That means if there are ten homes on your street, almost four of them have a gun (or guns).So make sure you don’t get caught in any crossfire (no pun intended) if you are not legally allowed to be near a gun; and for heaven’s sake make sure your children know everything there is to know about gun safety.