Norton Speaks on Effects of Gun Trafficking on D.C. at Press Conference Today
Norton Speaks on Effects of Gun Trafficking on D.C. at Press Conference Today
July 15, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today joined other Members of Congress at a press conference announcing the introduction of a new anti-gun- trafficking bill, Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act, a dedicated firearms trafficking statute to empower law enforcement to keep high-powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including drug cartels. She also warned about a new and unique trafficking issue that would emerge if the pending gun lobby-backed bill to abolish D.C.'s gun safety laws were enacted.
Norton said, "The controversy that has surrounded ATF's Operation Fast and Furious has revealed a virgin law enforcement issue," Norton said. "Americans may be astonished to discover that the U.S. has no gun-trafficking law, even for long guns such as AK-47s and .50 caliber sniper rifles. Without most Americans realizing it, we have tied the hands of law enforcement officers, who can only pursue traffickers for paperwork violations, which carry light sentences. "
Norton and a coalition of 100 national and local groups have been working to prevent any new anti-home-rule riders, including the D.C. gun bill, from being added to the Fiscal Year 2012 D.C. Appropriations bill. Norton warned that the D.C. gun bill would create a unique exception to a federal law that prohibits individuals from crossing state lines to purchase handguns by allowing D.C. residents to do so in Maryland and Virginia.
Norton's remarks follow:
The controversy surrounding ATF's Operation Fast and Furious has revealed a virgin law enforcement issue. Americans may be astonished to discover that the U.S. has no gun-trafficking law, even for long guns such as AK-47s and .50 caliber sniper rifles. Without most Americans realizing it, we have tied the hands of law enforcement officers, who can only pursue traffickers for paperwork violations, which carry light sentences. U.S. attorneys, given caseloads full of felonies, do not usually prosecute violations where there is no penalty sufficient to discourage the crime. This serious gap in federal law has fueled trafficking of assault weapons, perhaps most notoriously to Mexico, where that government is in an all out war against traffickers and their clients. This hole in our law is just as dangerous to American citizens, as gangs and criminals here traffic the assault weapons that are commonly confiscated following criminal activity without fear of prosecution.
Traffickers are not gun collectors. Perhaps most often, they are protecting the delivery of their goods, and their commodity of choice, which is, of course, drugs. A law against gun trafficking is also a strong weapon against drug trafficking. Our bill has multiple benefits. It is a deterrent against the illegal proliferation of guns, which have taken such a tragic toll in human life, and a new and powerful deterrent in the nation's long struggle against drugs.
There is an attempt underway to open a hole in a long-standing gun law that makes it more difficult to traffic handguns. Since 1968, federal law has prohibited crossing state lines to purchase handguns. However, the pending gun lobby-backed bill to abolish D.C.'s gun laws would also increase gun trafficking in the District. The bill would create a unique exception to the federal law that prohibits individuals from crossing state lines to purchase handguns by allowing D.C. residents to do so in Maryland and Virginia. Gun traffickers could use this exception to purchase large quantities of handguns, including assault pistols, in Maryland and Virginia and then bring them back into the District.