Rep. Shaban: Use Excess Budget Funds to Combat Illegal Gun Trafficking, and to Promote School Safety

State Representative John Shaban (R-135) is pushing to direct $5 million of this year’s temporary budget excess to fund the Firearms Trafficking Task Force that was revived as part of last year’s Mental Health, School Safety and Gun Violence bill passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings. “Illegal handgun trafficking and use is the true source of gun violence in our state,” Shaban said. “We need to focus more on what’s coming into our state in a criminal’s car trunk, and less on what’s in a law-abiding citizen’s gun safe.” 

The Statewide Firearms Trafficking Task Force is charged with investigating illegal gun possession, trading and transportation, and has successfully traced more than 10,000 illegal guns and made hundreds of arrests since its creation in 2000. The Task Force has been inconsistently funded, however, with money coming intermittently from federal grants and allocations from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection’s operating budget. This has resulted in the officer staffing level dwindling to a handful of troopers. 

“Our Firearms Trafficking Task Force is the best way to combat gun violence because it takes illegal guns out of the hands of the criminals who are using them,” Shaban said. “The bill package passed last year approved $1 million in additional funding for the Firearms Trafficking Task Force – a critical bill component that was essential for my and others’ support of the larger package. We need to keep supporting the Task Force’s mission.” 

Rep. Shaban’s original proposal also included a call to route some of the temporary excess to support the School Security Grant Program. The Governor is now pushing for this on his own, an effort that Shaban welcomes and supports. “I applaud the Governor’s plan to route some of the excess funds to our towns and cities to help us make our schools more secure,” Shaban said. “If we support both the Firearms Trafficking Task Force and the School Security Grant Program, and continue building upon the mental health reforms we passed, we should be able to achieve some the goals sought in last year’s controversial bill.”

Shaban also noted that, despite the multi-billion-dollar deficits projected for the next biennial budget, this year’s one-time $500 million revenue excess exists because of some unexpected and very large tax receipts from several wealthy estates, and some excess borrowed funds. The $5 million for the Firearms Trafficking Task Force would thus not add to the State’s long-term deficits. “I’d rather see us spend some of these funds on the safety of our communities, rather than fritter them away on pet political projects and wasteful programs designed to create more headlines than jobs.”

The Session begins February 5, 2014.