Senate Floor Statement: ATF's New Rule Will Help Combat Illegal Gun Trafficking

Statement

Mr. President, I speak today in support of a new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule requiring federally licensed firearm dealers in four Southwest border states to report the sale of multiple semi-automatic assault rifles to the same purchaser. This narrowly-tailored reporting requirement, similar to one already in place for multiple handgun sales, will provide ATF with an important tool to combat straw purchases and the illegal trafficking of firearms, including the supply of weapons to drug cartels in Mexico.

Under the rule, federally licensed dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas must report to ATF the sale of multiple semi-automatic rifles that have a caliber greater than .22 and accept detachable magazines to the same person within five consecutive business days. Weapons covered by the rule include AR-15s and AK-47s, military-style assault rifles favored by Mexican drug gangs. The rule focuses on sales in these four border states because they are the source of 75% of the firearms recovered and traced in drug-related crimes in Mexico, according to an analysis of Department of Justice statistics by the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. This rule allows ATF to collect information on guns that are frequently trafficked and used in crimes, improving in the Bureau's tracing efforts. Among other things, gun trace information can be used to identify potential trafficking networks and to link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal investigation.

Unfortunately, there are some who want to block ATF's ability to require this information, effectively hindering its efforts to combat gun trafficking and reduce violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The National Rifle Association and some Members of Congress have claimed that ATF does not have the authority to implement the rule and that the rule would cause an unmanageable burden on law-abiding gun dealers. Both of these claims are false. The Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-308) (18 U.S.C. §923 (g)(5)(A)) explicitly states that each federal firearm licensee shall, when requested by ATF, submit to the ATF any information required to be kept by that law, like the name and address of a purchaser and a firearm's serial number, or such lesser information as ATF may request. Information on the sale of multiple semi-automatic rifles is part of the record which firearm dealers are required to maintain.

The claim that ATF's new rule will unfairly burden firearm dealers is also unfounded. ATF estimates that completing the form to report multiple rifle sales will take 12 minutes for gun dealers, and substantially less time for those with computerized sales systems. I cannot imagine that the overwhelming majority of federal firearm licensees who are law-abiding will take offense to 12 minutes of work in the name of combating illegal trafficking and preventing violence.

The mandatory reporting of multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles to the same person is a measured, common sense step to help combat illegal firearm trafficking. The terrible drug cartel-related violence plaguing Mexico and spilling north of the border into the United States continues to be fueled by weapons illegally trafficked from the American Southwest. Again, I support ATF's new rule, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to oppose any legislative efforts to block ATF's ability to carry it out.

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