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Students help feds target violent crime
UL Lafayette receives $170,000 grant for media outreach campaign.
Marsha Sills
[email protected]
October 22, 2003
LAFAYETTE — A man walks into a bank, shoves a customer out of the way and points a gun in the face of the bank teller.
The teller stifles a giggle.
There were no bullets. The scene was staged by UL Lafayette students Tuesday for a public service announcement for the federal program, Project Safe Neighborhoods. The program is part of a national initiative to reduce the number of crimes associated with guns.
Graduate students at UL Lafayette are heading up the media campaign in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Western District of Louisiana, which includes Lafayette, Shreveport, Lake Charles, Monroe and Alexandria. The UL Lafayette Communications department received a grant of $170,000 for the media outreach campaign, while the research grant for the program was awarded to University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Local public service announcements already on air show Lafayette Police Chief Ronald Boudreaux slamming a cell door shut to dramatize what offenders face if they violate gun laws.
In the scene the UL Lafayette students shot Tuesday, no one will go to prison, but in real life using a gun in the commission of a crime means real time spent behind bars.
Earlier Tuesday, students Michael Addison and Carly Person heard the real life testimony of a convicted felon who faces at least 15 years of his life in federal prison because he was carrying a gun when he was arrested for another crime.
“This guy had a young daughter and was a well-spoken, clean-cut guy,†Person said. “He had been previously convicted of a crime and didn’t realize he could be prosecuted.â€
The man’s story will be part of a 20-minute video that includes other testimonies and comments from law officials, said Mike Maher, a UL Lafayette communications professor and media outreach grant supervisor.
Person said what surprised her most since starting the project was how much people don’t know about federal gun laws. A convicted felon found in possession of a firearm could face federal time in prison, but the law also extends to fugitives from justice, drug users or addicts and people involved in committing domestic abuse or subjected to a protective order. The law also includes harsher penalties for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime during a domestic situation involving violence or a deadly weapon.
Violators face federal prison terms without parole. Offenders with three or more prior violent felonies or serious drug offense convictions could face 15 years in prison without parole.
Maher said that Project Safe Neighborhoods is not only faced with educating the public about the law but lowering the public’s tolerance for gun crime.
“We’re trying to do for gun crime what MADD did for drunk driving,†he said. “It’s not about gun control but illegal use.â€
The campaign for the Western District includes billboards, public service announcements, a newsletter and surveys.
©The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
October 22, 2003
