The Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today, I am pleased to introduce important legislation, the Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act, with Representatives Cummings, McCarthy, Conyers, Tierney, Connolly, Chu, Norton, Rangel, Moran, Lynch, Speier, Filner, and Ackerman, which will put in statute a gun trafficking prohibition, empowering law enforcement with the tools to stem the tide of illegal weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and other criminals.

The Mexican drug cartel wars are raging and have claimed the lives of at least 40,000 people since 2007. They are fueled, in part, by illegal weapons procured in the United States and smuggled into Mexico. According to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Mexico has seized approximately 100,000 guns in the last four years, and 84% of those guns came from the United States. According to ATF, 70% of firearms recovered in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 and traced to determine their source were either manufactured in the U.S. or first imported into the U.S. before being trafficked to Mexico.

In hearings and interviews before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, law enforcement agents have said they are hamstrung in their attempts to stop illegal gun trafficking by the lack of a federal gun trafficking bill. Law enforcement agents identified three areas of current law that, if improved, would allow them to more effectively counter firearms trafficking--a reporting requirement for multiple long-guns purchases, stiffer penalties for straw purchasers, and a specific firearms trafficking prohibition in the criminal code.

Just this week, the Obama Administration announced that they have approved the ATF's request to use their authority to request reports of multiple long-gun purchases, and earlier this year in April, the United States Sentencing Commission announced proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines that will essentially cause most straw purchasers to be ineligible for probation, and once in effect, Congress can reevaluate the impact of these changes and if additional changes are needed.

With administrative action on two of the three proposals, our legislation accomplishes the third--a firearms trafficking prohibition in statute, with stiff penalties for traffickers and so-called trafficking ``kingpins.'' Under current law, prosecutors are forced to charge straw purchasers and traffickers with mere paperwork violations. This bill empowers law enforcement by criminalizing firearms trafficking, offering a sensible solution to ensure that weapons do not end up in the hands of criminals and drug cartels.

Given the ongoing violence and the glaring loopholes in U.S. gun trafficking laws, it's time Congress gets serious about enacting narrowly tailored, sensible laws to combat illegal trafficking.

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