By Laura DeKoven Waxman
March 28, 2011

As has been widely covered, on March 13 the Arizona Daily Star published an op ed by President Barack Obama calling for needed gun reforms. The President wrote that he believes the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms, and that the courts have settled this as the law of the land.

Obama said he also believes “that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way to make the United States of America a safer, stronger place,” and suggested that the focus “now should be on sound and effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place:”

• Enforcing laws that are already on the books, including legislation passed four years ago to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which hasn’t been properly implemented;

• Rewarding states that provide the best data for the System; and

• Making the system faster and nimbler so that it provides an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers, and makes sure that criminals can’t escape it.

Reacting to the President’s op ed, Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and past president of the Conference of Mayors, said, “While more needs to be done to make our communities safer, this is the most significant statement from the White House on gun violence prevention in over a decade.” Helmke indicated that the Brady Campaign looks forward to working with the President “to engage the nation, and our Congress, on how to protect more Americans from the threat of gun violence.”

Late last month, New York Senator Charles Schumer introduced legislation (S. 436) intended to strengthen the National Instant Check System (NICS). Supported by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 would establish greater penalties for states that do not comply with reporting laws by cutting a greater amount of their Justice Department grant funding for noncompliance. Currently, states that fail to report to the NICS database 50 percent or more of the records they have on individuals not be allowed to buy a gun face penalties of up to a three percent cut in their Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding. Schumer’s legislation would increase the reporting requirement to 75 percent by FY2013 and 90 percent by FY2018, with JAG funding penalties increased to 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

S. 436 also would require federal agencies, like the military, to certify twice per year to the Attorney General that they have submitted all relevant records to the NICS database. Additionally, it would close the so-called gun show loophole that exempt private sellers of guns from having to verify that the person they are selling to is not on the NICS database, by requiring private sellers to verify, either with local law enforcement, or through certified gun dealers, that the person who they are selling a gun to is not on the national NICS list.

New York Representative Carolyn McCarthy joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, in a March 15 Capitol Hill press conference to announce her intention to introduce similar legislation in the House.