Garland has taken several measures to try and reduce violence, but as 2021 concluded, he lamented that there was still a major issue.
"It is a terrible thing and a rise in crime began last year into this year, and it's continued into this year," Garland told reporters in December, citing his hometown of Chicago, which has been hit by gun violence.
The attorney general pointed to efforts he had made there, describing how he had gone there to set up a gun violence trafficking task force and had meetings with the chief of police, as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement.
Two weeks later, however, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called upon Garland to do more. The Democrat asked him to send in agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for six months to increase the number of gun investigations and gun seizures.
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"The federal government remains uniquely qualified to help address the scourge of gun violence," Lightfoot said. "We need these additional resources well in advance of next summer."
That came more than half a year after Garland had announced a multipronged approach to addressing violence across the nation. In May, Garland's Justice Department launched what he referred to as a "comprehensive violent crime reduction strategy."
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That strategy includes prioritizing enforcement, promising "community-based prevention and intervention programs," and building trust with communities. Part of the department's trust-building effort is Project Safe Neighborhoods, which brings law enforcement officials and community members together to work on solutions.
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Garland also said last summer that he would be making more federal resources available "to help prevent and disrupt violent crime and to focus on the most dangerous, most violent offenders."
A large part of the attorney general's strategy has been to address the gun problem. In 2021, the DOJ proposed a new law that would put restrictions on "ghost guns," or kits that allow the users to forge their own firearms that do not have serial numbers and are therefore untraceable. The department also offered a rule that would treat pistols with stabilizing braces the same as short-barreled rifles.
Garland also said he would have ATF go after federally certified firearms dealers who break the law by failing to carry background checks, forge documents, fail to cooperate with authorities or bestow guns to people who are not allowed to have them.
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At the same time that the DOJ has attempted to curb the violent crime, it has also been carrying probes of several local police forces, such as Minneapolis, Phoenix, Mount Vernon, New York, and Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky.
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