Truth Sheet: New Biden Motion To Battle Gun Crime

The Biden administration is taking new motion to shut the gun present loophole and battle gun crime.

Biden-Harris Administration Pronounces New Motion to Implement Bipartisan Safer
Communities Act, Increasing Firearm Background Checks to Battle Gun Crime

The New Division of Justice remaining rule units robust customary for gun sellers who need to get a license and conduct background checks

Right now, the Biden-Harris Administration is saying a brand new rule that can save lives by decreasing the variety of firearms bought with out background checks. This remaining rule implements the  Bipartisan Safer Communities Act’s enlargement of firearm background checks—the one important enlargement of the background examine requirement since then-Senator Biden helped shepherd the Brady Invoice over the end line in 1993. This motion is a part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s technique to stem the move of illegally acquired firearms into our communities and maintain accountable those that provide the firearms utilized in crime.

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Assertion from the President: “I’ve spent hours with households who’ve misplaced family members to gun violence. All of them have the identical message: ‘Do one thing.’ Right now, my Administration is taking motion to ensure fewer weapons are bought with out background checks. That is going to maintain weapons out of the fingers of home abusers and felons. And my Administration goes to proceed to do the whole lot we probably can to save lots of lives. Congress wants to complete the job and move common
background checks laws now.”

The federal gun background examine system is without doubt one of the finest instruments we now have to maintain weapons out of the fingers of people prohibited from buying or possessing firearms, together with home abusers and different violent criminals. However the loopholes in America’s background examine legal guidelines have enabled home abusers, faculty shooters, violent criminals, and gun traffickers to illegally purchase firearms. Over the previous 20 years, there have been quite a few failed efforts to shut these loopholes and develop background checks, together with a bipartisan try in 1999 that adopted
the taking pictures at Columbine Excessive College, and one other bipartisan try in 2013 that adopted the taking pictures at Sandy Hook Elementary College.

In 2022, President Biden completed what many had tried for the previous 20 years—he succeeded in increasing background checks by signing into legislation the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This legislation broadened the class of gun sellers required to change into licensed sellers and run background checks. In 2023, President Biden signed an Govt Order to speed up implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, together with by directing the Legal professional Common to maneuver the U.S. as near common background checks as potential with out extra laws by clarifying the brand new Act. The Division of Justice’s (DOJ) remaining rule clarifies the kind of conduct that requires an individual to get a license to promote weapons and to conduct background checks. By setting clear requirements for when somebody is dealing firearms, the rule offers the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with proactive instruments to implement the legislation and maintain our communities protected.

Background Test Loopholes Have Lethal Penalties

Since 1994, federal legislation has required federally licensed firearms sellers to run background checks previous to promoting or transferring a weapon. These background checks have helped maintain weapons out of the fingers of greater than three million people who’re prohibited from buying or possessing firearms. Regardless of the legislation, a rising variety of unlicensed sellers proceed to promote firearms for revenue to finish strangers they meet at gun reveals and on-line marketplaces, which has been a vital hole within the background examine legal guidelines.

For the previous 30 years, people who couldn’t move a background examine sought out unlicensed sellers with a purpose to evade the background examine system. One investigation discovered that 1 in 9 individuals who reply to on-line advertisements from unlicensed sellers would fail a background examine.

Tragic penalties of this illegal conduct embody:

• In 1999, the college shooters from the Columbine Excessive College taking pictures had been each underneath 18 and too younger to buy firearms legally. The shooters had their acquaintance buy firearms for them at a gun present via an unlicensed vendor to keep away from a background examine.

• In 2012, a home abuser was barred from possessing firearms following a restraining order taken out by his estranged spouse. The day earlier than the abuser killed his spouse and two others, and injuring 4 on the Azana Salon in Wisconsin, he bought a gun from an  unlicensed vendor he met on-line and not using a background examine.

• In 2019, a person shot and killed seven individuals and wounded dozens extra after a multiple- location taking pictures in Midland and Odessa, Texas. The shooter had beforehand tried to buy a gun from a sporting items retailer however was stopped by a background examine due to his psychological well being historical past. He was in the end capable of buy an AR-15 assault-style rifle and not using a background examine from an unlicensed vendor he met on-line.

Unlicensed sellers who don’t conduct background checks are additionally the biggest supply of firearms which might be illegally trafficked into our communities. In an evaluation of its gun trafficking investigations from 2017 to 2021, ATF recognized gross sales by unlicensed sellers as probably the most steadily used gun trafficking channel. Furthermore, unlicensed sellers had been the supply of greater than half of the firearms recognized as having been trafficked in the course of the five-year examine period—a complete of greater than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms.

Closing Rule Implements New Regulation, Increasing Background Test Requirement to Tens of Hundreds of Gun Gross sales
The Division of Justice’s remaining rule implements the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—the biggest enlargement of background checks for the reason that Brady Invoice grew to become legislation.

The ultimate rule makes clear when an individual must change into a licensed seller and run background checks, and offers the Division of Justice extra instruments to crack down on people illegally promoting weapons with out background checks. Particularly, the ultimate rule:

Lists the varieties of industrial exercise indicating that an individual should change into a licensed seller and run background checks, absent proof displaying they’re the truth is not engaged within the enterprise of firearms dealing. For instance, if an individual is repetitively promoting weapons of the identical or comparable make and mannequin inside one yr of their buy, they’re imagined to change into a licensed seller. If an individual repetitively sells firearms inside thirty days of buying these firearms, or promoting firearms and tells potential consumers that they’ll purchase extra firearms for that purchaser to buy, the vendor is meant to change into a licensed seller.

• States that the gun present or on-line sale loopholes don’t exist. In case you are conducting enterprise that in a brick-and-mortar retailer would require you to change into a licensed seller, you must change into a licensed seller and run background checks. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re dealing firearms at a gun present, on-line, in your house, within the trunk of a automotive, at a flea market, or anyplace else—you could receive a license and run background checks outcomes. Proof that an individual positioned advertisements on-line or reserved a desk at a gun present reveals that the individual is meaning to revenue from the sale.

• Prevents individuals from evading the licensing and background examine necessities by claiming that they’re simply promoting a couple of weapons. The ultimate rule clarifies that even a single firearm transaction could also be adequate to require a license, if there’s different habits to recommend industrial exercise. For instance, an individual promoting only one gun after which saying to others they’re keen and capable of buy extra firearms for resale could also be required to acquire a license and run background checks.

• Prevents individuals from falsely claiming that weapons are a part of a private assortment in an try to evade the legislation. The statute explicitly states that making occasional gross sales of a firearm from a private assortment or liquidating assortment doesn’t require a federal firearms license or background checks. Nonetheless, individuals have evaded the background examine requirement by falsely claiming they’re promoting their private assortment. The ultimate rule makes clear {that a} private assortment of firearms is proscribed to collections acquired for particular causes like examine; comparability; exhibition; or for a interest, like looking or sport taking pictures. A bona fide private assortment just isn’t the identical as enterprise stock.

• Closes the so-called firesale loophole. Gun sellers who’ve had their licenses revoked have generally then bought their former enterprise stock with out working background checks. The ultimate rule makes clear {that a} enterprise stock will not be transferred to a person’s private assortment after a license is revoked. As a substitute, a enterprise might eliminate this stock via one other licensed vendor who runs background checks.

Closing Rule Builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Dedication to Stopping the
Unlawful Stream of Weapons
The Biden-Harris Administration has deployed a historic effort to accomplice with state and native legislation enforcement and maintain communities protected by addressing the unlawful sources of weapons. The technique is concentrated not simply on the one that pulled the set off of a firearm, but additionally on the entire hyperlinks within the chain that led to the firearm being within the fallacious fingers, together with the gun trafficker, the supply of the gun trafficker’s firearms, rogue gun sellers who’re willfully violating the legislation, and ghost gun producers. Key Administration actions to cease the unlawful move of weapons into our communities embody:

• Gun Trafficking Regulation Enforcement: In 2021, the Justice Division launched 5 new legislation enforcement strike forces targeted on addressing important firearms trafficking corridors which have diverted weapons to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Bay Space, and Washington, D.C. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act additionally enacted the primary ever federal gun trafficking legislation and federal straw buying legislation. The brand new gun trafficking legislation has been used to cost greater than 300 individuals and led to the seizure of over 1,500 firearms.

• Cracking Down on Rogue Gun Sellers: The Justice Division enacted a brand new coverage to maximise the efficacy of ATF assets to crack down on rogue gun sellers violating our legal guidelines and underscored zero tolerance for willful violations of the legislation by federally licensed firearms sellers that put public security in danger. The brand new ATF inspection insurance policies
have led to 245 license revocations over the previous two years, which is the best two-year complete in almost twenty years.

• Stopping Gun Producers Illegally Promoting Ghost Weapons: The Justice Division issued a remaining rule to rein within the proliferation of ghost weapons, that are unserialized, privately made firearms which might be more and more being recovered at crime scenes. Based on ATF, the restoration of ghost weapons by legislation enforcement elevated 1,083 p.c between
2017 and 2021. The Biden-Harris Administration cracked down on ghost weapons by making clear that companies manufacturing probably the most accessible ghost weapons, together with “buy-build- shoot” kits and sure polymer handgun frames (together with sure Polymer80 handgun frames) should adjust to federal firearm legal guidelines requiring background checks, a federal license, and markings, similar to serial numbers.

• Senate Confirmed ATF Director: President Biden secured the affirmation of ATF Director Steve Dettelbach, the primary everlasting ATF Director in over seven years to steer the company tasked with implementing our nation’s gun legal guidelines.

• Crime Gun Intelligence Facilities: ATF works with state and native legislation enforcement to determine crime gun intelligence facilities, which makes use of the Nationwide Built-in Ballistics Info Community (NIBIN) and crime gun tracing to supply investigative results in clear up shootings and determine gun trafficking channels.

• New Evaluation on Gun Trafficking: In 2021, President Biden introduced that the ATF would publish the primary gun trafficking evaluation in twenty years. ATF has revealed three volumes, with the latest quantity displaying that probably the most frequent kind of trafficking channel recognized in ATF gun trafficking investigations was unlicensed firearms dealing by personal individuals at 40.7 p.c. These investigations accounted for over half of the firearms recognized as trafficked in ATF investigations. The second most frequent trafficking channel was straw purchasers.

Name for Congress to Act

Right now, the Biden-Harris Administration is shifting as shut as potential to common background
checks with out extra laws. President Biden and Vice President Harris proceed to name on Congress to enact common background checks and end the job. The President and Vice President additionally proceed to name on Congress to extend funding for the ATF so the company can proceed its life-saving work to cease the move of unlawful firearms into our communities. The President requested $2 billion for ATF as a part of his FY 25 price range request.