Introduction of the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle came together to deal with the gun trafficking epidemic that has spread across our country and across our borders.

Our bill, the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act, will create a dedicated federal statute to combat gun trafficking, and impose stiffer penalties for ``straw purchasers'' who buy guns for convicted felons and others who are prohibited from purchasing weapons. The bill also includes important enhancements for organizers of trafficking networks that funnel illegal guns into cities across the country.

These stronger penalties will enable law enforcement and prosecutors to bust these trafficking rings and make our communities safer from the threat of gun violence.

According to the ATF, more than 100,000 guns were recovered from crime scenes in Mexico between 2009 and 2014, and over 70 percent of those originated in the U.S. It's clear that gun trafficking across the border to Mexico is a major national security threat, but our current laws are so weak that it's not worth it to prosecute gun traffickers.

In testimony to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in 2012, ATF Special Agent Peter Forcelli called the current laws against gun trafficking ``absolutely toothless.'' And the consequences have been dire:

On Christmas Eve, 2012, a convicted felon named William Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for killing his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer, sat down in his home in Webster, N.Y., and wrote a note vowing to torch his neighborhood.

He promised to ``do what I like doing best, killing people.'' After setting fire to his own house and several others, Spengler ambushed the first responders, killing two firefighters by spraying them with bullets from a 12-gauge shotgun and a Bushmaster rifle.

How did Mr. Spengler--a convicted felon--get his guns? He used his neighbor as a straw purchaser.

And this May, authorities in New York charged 10 people in a gun trafficking ring that had channeled 90 guns from as far away as Maine onto our streets in just the previous six months.

Thank you to Representatives Cummings, Meehan, Fitzpatrick, Kelly, King, Duckworth, and Donovan for their steadfast commitment to end gun trafficking, and their support of this critical legislation.

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