In the wake of this nation’s deadliest mass shooting in history, Americans are left wondering, again, whether Congress will at long last find the political courage to act, or whether they will just continue to hide behind platitudes. Now is Congress’s moment of truth — and here are eleven things they could do with it:
1. Expand background checks.
Congress should expand criminal background checks to all gun sales. Background checks are fast, easy, and effective — and have stopped 2.6 million illegal purchases since the Brady Act became law. But if Congress won’t get that far, they should at least expand background checks to online gun sales and/or at gun shows.
2. Close the domestic violence loophole.
Current federal law prohibits people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes from purchasing or possessing a gun — but only if the victim and abuser are married, live together, or have a child together. That means intimate partners and boyfriends/girlfriends are not included. Nor are people convicted of stalking.
3. Prohibit people who have committed hate crimes from buying guns.
Anyone convicted of a felony is already prohibited from purchasing or possessing a gun. But state misdemeanor hate crimes are not prohibiting convictions under federal gun laws. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) has introduced a bill to fix that, ensuring that anyone who has been convicted of any hate crime would be unable to purchase or possess a gun.
4. Prohibit people on the terror watch list from buying guns.
Being on a terror watch list or on the “no fly” list does not prohibit someone from being able to purchase or possess a gun. Senate Democrats have tried to change this before, including after the Pulse shooting in Orlando last year — but they lost that vote 47–53. Republicans who voted against closing this loophole include the two who are most vulnerable in 2018: Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Dean Heller (R-NV).
5. Fund and support the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The National Rifle Association and its Congressional allies have effectively neutered the ATF, tying its hands, starving it for both money and manpower, and subjecting it to ridiculous rules that make enforcing our gun laws nearly impossible.
6. End the research ban on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Appropriations riders prohibit the CDC from using any money “to advocate or promote gun control.” This effectively bans researchers from doing any studies on guns or gun violence from the public health perspective.
7. Get weapons of war off our streets.
There is no reason that weapons of war designed to create mass causalities — like dangerous assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — should be easily available. The latter is especially important, given we know that when a mass shooter stops to reload is when people escape (like at Sandy Hook) or he gets tackled (like Gabby Giffords’ attacker).
8. Incentivize states to submit more mental health records into the background check system.
Despite efforts to increase states’ submission of mental health records, data show that Alaska has only 93 records in the system, Wyoming has only 4, Montana has only 3, and New Hampshire has only 2.
9. End the requirement that all ATF gun traces be performed on paper.
All ATF crime gun traces have to be done by hand, on paper. That’s absurd, especially considering the number of trace requests received every single day.
10. Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment.
The Tiahrt Amendment sharply limits the ATF’s ability to release gun trace data (even for academic research), prohibits that data’s use in civil proceedings, and restricts its availability for subpoena or discovery. This amendment also prohibits ATF from requiring gun dealers to perform regular inventory checks and requires the destruction of all background check records within 24 hours of being run for a gun sale.
11. Pass a gun trafficking bill.
Gun trafficking is not a federal crime. Straw purchasing is a paperwork violation. Penalties are too weak to be a deterrent. Federal gun trafficking legislation — like the bipartisan bill that the Senate voted down in 2013 — would fix that and give our gun laws the teeth they need to shut down the iron pipeline and keep guns out of the wrong hands.
Sarah Trumble is Deputy Director for Social Policy & Politics at Third Way, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C.
