Other opponents who were members of this anti-Exile coalition included Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Harry Browne, and science fiction writer L. Neil Smith. Results Project Exile was widely praised after its first year's results were released. Within the first year (1997–1998) Project Exile resulted in: The first Exile case made by Officer Gene Baskette, and Officer Mark Wooten of the Street Enforcement Unit of the Richmond Police Dept. 372 persons indicted for Federal gun violations. 440 illegally possessed guns seized. 300 persons arrested or held in State custody. 222 arrestees (more than 74 percent) held without bond. 247 persons convicted. 196 persons sentenced to an average of 55 months of imprisonment. During the first year of Project Exile (1998), homicides in Richmond declined 33%, for the lowest number since 1987, and armed robberies declined 30%. In 1999, homicides declined another 21%. By 2007, homicides in Richmond were down to 57 compared to 122 in the year before Project Exile. Research analysts offered different opinions as to the program's success in reducing gun crime. Jens Ludwig and Steven Raphael, in a 2003 analysis of the program, argued that the decline in gun homicide was part of a general regression to the mean across U.S. cities with high homicide rates. A 2005 study by Richard Rosenfeld and others, published in Criminology & Public Policy, disagreed, concluding that Richmond's gun homicide rate fell more rapidly than the rates in other large U.S. cities, when controlling for other variables. Legacy Project Exile, which was confined to Richmond and surrounding areas, has since been supplanted by Virginia Exile, the Commonwealth's statewide program which carries bail restrictions and imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in a Virginia prison for those who: have a prior conviction for a violent felony and are convicted of possessing a firearm; are convicted of possessing a firearm on school property with the intent to use it, or displaying it in a threatening manner; are convicted of possessing a firearm and Schedule I or II drugs such as cocaine or heroin, or convicted of possessing more than a pound of marijuana with the intent to sell. Notes Further reading Daniel C. Richman, "Project Exile" and the Allocation of Federal Law Enforcement Authority, 43 Ariz. L. Rev. 369 (2001). External links Virginia Exile United States federal firearms law