Juveniles firing automatic pistols out of vehicles, with no regard for what — or whom — was downrange; a juvenile bragging during recorded jail calls about shooting and paralyzing another child and beating an older man, leaving him battered and bloodied.
These were among the video and audio files presented by Las Cruces police officers this week as the agency asked state lawmakers meeting in the city to consider reforms to expand gun transfer restrictions for juveniles, establish harsher penalties for those committing gang-related crimes and require consistent treatment for children found incompetent to stand trial.
“The propensity for violence … it’s outrageous and disturbing,” Officer Benjamin Berling told lawmakers on the legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee. He calle