Arthur Lee Harris Jr, Illegal Firearm Possession, MS 2024

JACKSON, MS – Arthur Lee Harris, Jr., 30, of Jackson, is trading the streets for a federal cell. U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves handed down a twelve-month prison sentence today, followed by three years of supervised release, for Harris’s illegal possession of a firearm. The sentence also includes a $1,000 fine, a slap on the wrist for a repeat offender.

The bust went down August 22, 2018, at a routine administrative checkpoint. Harris couldn’t produce proof of insurance or even a driver’s license – already a bad sign. When Jackson Police directed him out of the vehicle, a pistol was plainly visible in the driver’s side cup holder. Harris readily admitted it was his. A quick check revealed Harris wasn’t just carrying a gun; he was legally prohibited from having one in the first place.

Harris’s criminal history is no secret. He’s a convicted felon in Hinds County, with a prior conviction for the heinous crime of statutory rape. That conviction alone should have kept him far away from any weapon. But Harris apparently didn’t get the memo. He was indicted on November 6, 2018, on federal charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and ultimately pled guilty before Judge Reeves on February 15, 2019.

This case isn’t an isolated incident; it’s part of “Project EJECT,” a U.S. Attorney’s Office initiative for the Southern District of Mississippi. EJECT, an acronym for “Empower Justice Expel Crime Together,” is a multi-pronged effort to tackle violent crime through prosecution, prevention, and re-entry programs – a fancy way of saying they’re trying to clean up the mess. It falls under the umbrella of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

PSN, revived by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017, aims to forge stronger partnerships between federal, state, and local law enforcement, plus the communities they serve. The goal? To drive down violent crime and make neighborhoods safer. But for Harris, and others like him, that goal remains elusive. The FBI investigated the case, and Assistant United States Attorney Lynn Murray prosecuted it.

While this sentence puts Harris behind bars for a year, the question remains: will it be enough to deter others? The streets of Jackson are littered with individuals like Harris – criminals with access to firearms and a disregard for the law. Project EJECT and PSN are good starting points, but true change will require a deeper, more sustained commitment to addressing the root causes of violence in the city.