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1 1 (February 9, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveoht0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Con gressionol Research Service Informing the Iegislative diebate since 1914 0 Updated February 9, 2024 Gun Control: Straw Purchase and Gun Trafficking Provisions in P.L. 117-159 On June 25, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA; S. 2938; P.L. 117-159). This law includes the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act, provisions of which amend the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA, 18 U.S.C. §§921 et seq.) to more explicitly prohibit straw purchases and illegal gun trafficking. Related provisions expand federal law enforcement investigative authorities. Federal Firearrs Law The GCA 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 violent crime. Congress constructed the GCA to allow state and local governments to regulate firearms more strictly within their own borders, so long as state law does not conflict with federal law or violate constitutional provisions. Hence, one condition of a federal firearms license for gun dealers, which permits the holder to engage in interstate firearms commerce, is that the licensee must comply with both federal and state law. Also, under the GCA there are several classes of persons prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition (e.g., convicted felons, fugitives, unlawful drug users). It was and remains unlawful under the GCA for any person to transfer knowingly a firearm or ammunition to a prohibited person (18 U.S.C. §922(d)). Violations are punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is the principal agency that administers and enforces the GCA, as well as the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA, 26 U.S.C. §§5801 et seq.). The NFA further regulates certain firearms deemed to be especially dangerous (e.g., machine guns, short-barreled shotguns) by taxing all aspects of the making and transfer of such weapons and requiring their registration with the Attorney General. Straw Purchase Provision Straw purchases are illegal firearms transactions in which a person serves as a middleman by posing as the transferee, but is actually acquiring the firearm for another person. As discussed below, straw purchases are unlawful under two existing laws. Prosecutions under those provisions have been characterized by some as mere paperwork violations and, hence, inadequate in terms of deterring unlawful gun trafficking. P.L. 117-159 amends the GCA with a new provision, 18 U.S.C. §932, to prohibit any person from knowingly purchasing or conspiring to purchase any firearm for, on behalf of, or at the request or demand of any other persons if the purchaser knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the actual buyer is a person prohibited from being transferred a firearm under 18 U.S.C. §922(d); plans to use, carry, possess, or sell (dispose of) the firearm(s) in furtherance of a felony, federal crime of terrorism, or drug trafficking crime; or plans to sell or otherwise dispose of the firearm(s) to a person who would meet any of the conditions described above. Violations are punishable by a fine and up to 15 years' imprisonment. Violations made by a person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that any firearm involved will be used to commit a felony, federal crime of terrorism, or drug trafficking crime are punishable by a fine and up to 25 years' imprisonment. Gun Trafficking Provision Gun trafficking entails the movement or diversion of firearms from legal to illegal channels of commerce in violation of the GCA. P.L. 117-159 amends the GCA with a new provision, 18 U.S.C. §933, to prohibit any person from shipping, transporting, causing to be shipped or transported, or otherwise disposing of any firearm to another person with the knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that the transferee's use, carrying, or possession would constitute a felony. It would also prohibit the receipt of such firearm if the transferee knows or has reasonable cause to believe that receiving it would constitute a felony. Attempts and conspiracies to violate these provisions are proscribed as well. Violations are punishable by a fine and up to 15 years' imprisonment. Forfeiture, Fines, and Sentencing Provisions P.L. 117-159 amends the GCA with a follow-on provision, 18 U.S.C. §934, that makes any person convicted under either Sections 932 or 933 subject to civil forfeiture and fines. Convicted persons could forfeit any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, from straw purchasing or gun trafficking, as well as any property used, or intended to be used, in the commission of such crimes. Persons convicted of such crimes could also be fined twice the gross profits or other proceeds of such offenses. P.L. 117-159 amends federal electronic surveillance, racketeering, and money laundering provisions, making violations of 18 U.S.C. §§932 or 933 predicate offenses. GCA Interstate Transfer Prohibitions The GCA generally prohibits anyone who is not a federal firearms licensee (FFL) from acquiring a firearm from an out-of-state source. Interstate transfers among unlicensed persons may be facilitated through an FFL in the state