WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas has filed so many firearms cases that the Midwestern farm state ranked third last year among the 93 judicial districts nationwide in the numbers of gun prosecutions.
Justice Department statistics show only Puerto Rico and the Western District of Texas had more federal gun prosecutions than Kansas in 2012.
Kansas had been first in the nation in gun prosecutions in 2011, but fell to third place in 2012 despite prosecutors filing even more cases.
U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom told the Wichita Pachyderm Club on Friday that fighting gun violence and protecting the safety of law enforcement officers are among Justice Department priorities.
Grissom’s office filed gun-related charges against 447 people last year in Kansas, up nearly 85 percent from the average of the four previous years.
