Anti-gun groups try to blame guns for the increase in violent crime. But law enforcement knows what is causing it. And now they are speaking out.  

Via KCRA 3 

A law enforcement group is blaming the shooting death of Sacramento County sheriff's deputy Robert French on a prison reform measure signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.

French was killed Aug. 30 in a gun battle that took place between law enforcement officers and Thomas Littlecloud, 32. Littlecloud fired about 34 rounds from an assault rifle and more than a dozen shots from a 9-mm handgun as he tried to get away from the Ramada Inn on Auburn Boulevard.

“The blood is on the governor’s hands,” said Mike Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group that advocates for crime victims.

 

Rushford was referencing a prison realignment measure known as AB 109, passed by the California Legislature in 2011. At the time, California was under court orders to fix the problem of prison overcrowding. Critics of the law told KCRA 3 the tragedy involving French could have been avoided.

 

 “Officers are dying as a result of this,” Rushford said.

A headline from the L.A. Deputy Sheriff’s Association newsletter proclaimed, “AB 109 leads to the death of Sacramento County Deputy Robert French.”

Littlecloud was a felon released from state prison. Under AB 109, responsibility for supervising him was transferred from state parole agents to county probation officers. But Littlecloud committed new crimes upon his release.

“Something is seriously wrong with a policy that allows someone like Littlecloud to stay off the streets and categorizes them as not dangerous,” Rushford said.

 

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