Gun violence in Atlanta: Chief gives report card on targeting guns, gangs, and drugs

ATLANTA - Getting guns and drugs out of the hands of criminals and gang members is a top priority for police, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told the Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety Committee.

The chief briefed the committee on Tuesday on gun confiscation for 2023.

Converted handguns found on Atlanta streets

Handguns with a "trigger" or switch were recently demonstrated for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

The mayor noted that the handgun had been restyled to be fully automatic with rapid fire.

The device is illegal and Chief Schierbaum wants to make sure suspects who use it are properly charged.

"We also worked last year to remove the triggers off the streets that make a weapon fully automatic. We know that this year the General Assembly will be considering legislation to make that a state offense because it is a federal offense only, we no longer have the ability to charge that here in Fulton County," the chief said.

Chief Schierbaum boasts some aggressive results.

‘Ghost guns’ trouble Atlanta’s police chief most

In 2023, 3197 firearms were removed off the streets, 477 of those weapons were stolen, 143 were rifles or shotguns and 33 of those were the troubling "ghost guns."

"Meaning they were manufactured in a manner that cannot be tracked by law enforcement. So, it is hard to trace them back to certain crimes," Chief Schierbaum explained.

Atlanta police get ‘aggressive’ with gangs

The chief says gangs with guns continue to be a problem in Fulton County. Investigators from APD arrested 140 gang members last year on 600 separate gang charges.

"We have been aggressively fighting the gangs in Fulton County and the region because they do engage in human trafficking, drug dealing, gun running and robberies throughout the area," Atlanta’s top cop said.

Operation Deep Freeze takes guns of Atlanta streets

The chief says Operation Deep Freeze was also effective and lead to 87 arrests, 34 of which were gang members and 67 firearms, which remain here in the custody of APD forever.

"We worked with our partners at the state and federal levels and regionally to go into certain areas where individuals were possessing guns and many times, they were in open conflict with each other," the veteran lawman replied.

The chief says his department is not letting up and will continue to stamp out illegal weapons in our city.