CONGRESSMAN CASTEN JOINS SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE FIELD HEARING ON COMBATING GUN TRAFFICKING AND REDUCING VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO
Washington, D.C — Today, Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) joined the Senate Judiciary Committee for a field hearing on Combatting Gun Trafficking and Reducing Gun Violence in Chicago. The hearing was livestreamed here.
Casten, who has been a leader in gun violence prevention since coming to Congress, recently reintroduced the Gun Trafficker Detection Act, legislation to create a federal requirement that gun owners must report if their gun is lost or stolen within 48 hours. While federal law requires firearm dealers to report firearms that are lost or stolen from their inventory to local authorities and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), it does not currently require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement. The Gun Trafficker Detection Act, co-led by Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-02), and Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-22), would prevent further trafficking of illegal guns and decrease the number of violent crimes involving guns in Chicagoland and across the U.S.
Specifically, the Gun Trafficker Detection Act would prevent further trafficking of illegal guns by:
- Requiring gun owners to report their gun lost or stolen within 48 hours.
- Helping law enforcement identify and prosecute gun traffickers who often claim their gun was lost or stolen only once it turns up at a crime scene across state lines.
- Making traffickers liable for any damage done by their guns.
- Prohibiting repeat violators from purchasing a gun for 5 years.
- Creating a web-based portal to report a firearm as missing or stolen.
Bill text for the Gun Trafficker Detection Act can be found here.
As 2021 is set to be the deadliest year of gun violence in decades, efforts by states like Illinois to prevent gun violence are often undermined by weak gun laws in neighboring states like Indiana. Over 5,500 illegally possessed guns were seized by Chicago police in the first six months of 2021 alone. In Illinois in 2019, guns trafficked across state lines comprise about 63% of the total number of illegally possessed guns. Illinois is not alone—in states with extensive gun safety measures, like New York and New Jersey, 79 percent and 72 percent of recovered crime guns originated out of state, respectively.
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