Crime & Public Safety
First, we will allow qualified law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons (see our position on the Right to Self Defense, which is a proven way to reduce violent crime, and also reduces its impact by allowing victims to defend themselves.
We also intend to redirect the resources of the State Police from arresting nonviolent drug users to investigating the serious felonies that threaten all of us, such as armed robbery, rape, and murder. At the same time, we will strenuously enforce laws against driving or operating heavy equipment while impaired by either drugs or alcohol.
A Gaztañaga administration will be making large spending cuts to the state budget, but we will NOT reduce spending on police, firefighters, or other public safety employees. (That’s what the Democrats always threaten to do.) But that’s not where we would cut state government spending. Public safety is a core function of government, and we may even increase spending on it if we feel it is necessary. Criminologists have shown that the certainty of being caught is more of a deterrent to crime than the severity of the punishment, and that is something that the governor can definitely affect.
We will also end the despicable practice of conducting SWAT team raids on the homes of ordinary citizens suspected of nonviolent offenses. Incidents like the one where police raided the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights and killed both of his dogs will be unacceptable in a Gaztañaga administration.
