President Obama's Gun Announcement, Straw Purchasers and the Southwest Border

President Obama called upon Congress today to take a stand against gun violence, announcing plans to introduce legislation that will ban some assault weapons, limit high capacity magazines, expand background checks for arms purchasers, and establish new gun trafficking laws.

Straw purchasing, wherein a buyer sells a firearm to an unauthorized individual, contributes greatly to gun trafficking to Mexico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has consistently found that the overwhelming majority of firearms recovered at crime scenes and traced by Mexican officials originate in the United States. These guns in turn fuel much of Mexico’s brutal cartel violence, which has led to the death of roughly 50,000 Mexicans since 2006.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), plans to re-introduce legislation that will hold gun dealers accountable for selling firearms to straw purchasers and gun traffickers. Today, Rep. Schiff voiced his support for the President’s outline of how to reduce gun violence in the United States. He also announced his intention to re-introduce legislation to crack down on straw purchasers in the 113th Congress:

 “As the President described, this requires a multifaceted approach, including universal background checks, making sure we keep better mental health records, banning high capacity ammunition clips, and reinstating and improving the Assault Weapons Ban. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the House Gun Violence Task Force to move gun violence prevention legislation through Congress, including a bill I am introducing to ensure that victims of gun violence have the same rights to hold gun makers and gun sellers accountable for negligence, and reintroducing legislation I authored last session to crack down on straw purchasers of guns who assist others in illegally obtaining weapons without background checks.”

From the President’s Plan: We also must create serious punishments for gun trafficking. Today, criminals can easily buy guns from unlicensed dealers, or acquire them with the help of so-called “straw purchasers” who pass the required background check to buy guns from licensed dealers. But there is no explicit law against straw purchasing, so straw purchasers and others who traffic guns can often only be prosecuted for paperwork violations. We cannot allow those who help put guns into the hands of criminals to get away with just a slap on the wrist. Congress should close these loopholes with new gun trafficking laws that impose serious penalties for these crimes.

The President and Congressman Schiff’s plan to identify and prosecute straw purchasers is common sense that will promote the goals of already-established initiatives. The Multiple Sales Reporting (MSR) program, a new initiative of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), combats firearms trafficking from the U.S. to Mexico facilitated by straw purchasers. From approximately mid-August 2011 through mid-April 2012, there were more than 3,000 multiple sales reports submitted from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. During the same period, ATF opened more than 120 criminal investigations based on multiple sales reports, more than 25 of which have been recommended for prosecution. If Congress follows the President’s recommendation and closes existing loopholes with new gun trafficking laws, multiple sales and consequent firearms trafficking should see a marked decline in the coming years.