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1 1 (April 26, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govedfw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional SResearch Service informing the Iegisiative debate since 1914___________________ Gun Trafficking and White House-Directed DOJ-ATF Report April 26, 2021 On April 7, 2021, the White House announced that it has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an annual report on firearms trafficking, similar to a report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) previously released in 2000. That report, Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers, was based on a survey of 1,530 criminal investigations conducted by ATF from July 1996 to December 1998. It followed a 1999 report on ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII), which was based on firearms trace data. Both prior reports explored questions regarding the nature of gun trafficking in the United States and shed light on the unlawful flow of firearms from jurisdictions with less restrictive firearms laws to jurisdictions with more restrictive firearms laws. Some of ATF's assertions about high-volume, organized gun trafficking proved debatable and the use of trace data in civil lawsuits controversial. Congress responded by limiting the release of unfiltered trace data and prohibiting certain lawsuits against gun dealers. Trace Data and Related Legislation The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA, 18 U.S.C. §@921-931) is the principal statute regulating interstate firearms commerce in the United States. The purpose of the GCA is to assist federal, state, and local law enforcement in ongoing efforts to reduce crime and violence. Congress constructed the GCA to allow state and local governments to regulate firearms more strictly within their own borders, albeit subject to certain constitutional limitations under the Second Amendment. Hence, one condition of a federal firearms license, which permits the holder to engage in interstate firearms commerce, is that a federal firearms licensee (FFL) must comply with both federal and state law. In 1996, the Clinton Administration launched the YCGII to stop traffickers, who were unlawfully supplying firearms to juveniles (age 17 and younger) and youth (age 18 to 24), through comprehensive firearms tracing and analysis. By FY2004, YCGII had expanded to more than 60 cities. For FY2005, the George W. Bush Administration requested and received funding to expand Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) and YCGII to 80 cities, yet ATF dropped the YCGII program in FY2005 and began promoting the PSN program as part of its broader integrated violence reduction strategy. For the years 1997 through 2000, ATF published YCGII reports that included data on firearm traces by participating cities. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11660 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress