Clinton's proposal to beef up ATF welcome news for Las Vegas office

If President Clinton is successful in convincing Congress to foot the bill for 500 new ATF agents, Las Vegas will benefit directly.

"We will be getting new special agents in Las Vegas to work on Project EFFECT and to help identify and investigate illegal firearms trafficking groups, individuals and sources," said B.J. Zapor, Las Vegas resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "As our manpower needs are filled, we'll also have more resources for firearms and arson investigations."

Although Zapor would not divulge how many agents now work in the Las Vegas office, he said officials hope to triple the number of agents in the next few years.

On Tuesday Clinton announced he wants to hire 500 more ATF agents nationally and 1,000 federal, state and local prosecutors for special programs designed to curb gun violence. He is asking Congress for $280 million to do so.

Project EFFECT is one of those programs, Zapor said.

Instead of prosecuting felons caught with firearms in the state system, many are being prosecuted in the federal system, where the sentences are harsher and the actual time served longer. EFFECT stands for Ex-Felon and Firearm Equals Conviction Time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnick said that coincidentally, he, U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth and assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom O'Connell and Kurt Schulke spent much of Tuesday morning telling inmates at the Indian Springs Correctional Facility about Project EFFECT.

"We're very vigorously prosecuting firearms offenses, but if we had more federal agents, we could do more," Zlotnick said. "We're making ends meet now, but with more agents we could expand the program outside of Clark County."

Zapor said new agents would also make it easier for the bureau to pursue another group of felons -- those people convicted of domestic violence who continue to carry weapons.

While no one convicted of a felony is allowed to own or possess a firearm, there is one class of misdemeanor criminals who also aren't allowed to have firearms -- those convicted of domestic violence, Zapor said. People who also have had restraining orders taken out against them can't own or possess firearms.

No one has yet been indicted in the federal system under those laws, but agents are currently working a few such cases, Zapor said. The number would likely increase with additional officers.

Zapor said he is excited about Clinton's plan to create a ballistics information network that would enable ATF and FBI agents to track down weapons and criminals through such things as shell casings and bullets, which have distinctive markings on them made by the gun barrel.

The price tag on that system is about $30 million.

New Las Vegas agents have always been a priority for the ATF, but, realistically, the city may never have enough, Zapor said.

"The demand for ATF services will always exceed the staff here in Las Vegas because of our exponential growth and the predilection for firearms crimes here," Zapor said.

Still, Zapor said, any additional officers would be a blessing.

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