madam chairman , i rise in strong support of h.r. 1279 , the gang deterrence and community protection act of 2005 .  i want to thank the distinguished gentleman from virginia ( mr. forbes )  for his hard work on this very critical issue .  i also want to thank the chairman of the committee on the judiciary , the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner )  for his leadership in this area as well .  gang violence is taking over too many of our communities .  what was once thought to be an urban problem has now moved into many suburban and even rural areas , leaving virtually every community and every child in them vulnerable .  sadly , too many children are turning their backs on beneficial extra-curricular activities and turning to the world of guns and drugs and violent activity in order to gain entry into or move up or just maintain status in a gang .  in order to gain entry into these things , this legislation is absolutely critical .  and for those who have avoided being seduced by gang life , they are too often held hostage in their homes for fear of being the next victim or the unfortunate one who may witness a gang act and who may later be called upon to testify , and they are often times in fear of their life when that happens .  in my district , the first district of ohio which includes the city of cincinnati , the 22 homicides that have occurred as of march put the city on pace to exceed the record number , 75 homicides that occurred back in 2003 .  many of our city officials and law enforcement point toward gang activity centered on drug trafficking as the source of this increase .  we can not allow gangs to control our communities .  we must give law enforcement the tools to fight back .  h.r. 1279 would help to accomplish this in two ways : it would establish new stronger gang and violent criminal penalties as well as strengthen existing ones to deter the acts of violence commonly associated with these gangs .  most importantly , h.r. 1279 gives our communities the resources to attack the gang problem from all levels .  h.r. 1279 ensures that local state and national law enforcement work together to stop gangs and to make our communities finally safe as they ought to be .  our communities can not fight gangs alone .  i would strongly urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation to ensure that we have a coordinated effort in all levels of government .  i want to again thank the gentleman from virginia ( mr. forbes )  for his leadership in this area .  