Stop Triggerlock

IT STARTED OUT as the sort of law most liberals would support: a federal bill providing stiff penalties for illegal possession of handguns. But as Gabrielle Banks reports on page 18, Operation Triggerlock has turned out to be a disaster. Cops in cities like San Francisco, where a fairly liberal district attorney gives kids second chances and fairly liberal juries don't always believe the police, are using Triggerlock to send minor gun-possession cases directly to federal prosecutors. The feds bypass D.A. Terence Hallinan to win harsh sentences for relatively minor crimes.

The result is almost absurd: If you shoot someone, you'll probably get charged under California law and prosecuted by the local D.A. If you have a gun in your hands (even if it's not loaded) and you never use it for a violent crime, the cops might hand you over to the feds – and you might end up doing more time than a killer.

There's a simple way to end this miscarriage of justice: the new San Francisco police chief, Earl Sanders, should immediately direct his officers to stop using Triggerlock, stop sending cases directly to the feds – and let the local district attorney and criminal justice system do what they're supposed to do.