April 21, 2008

More than 40 mayors, including Conference President Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer and Conference Vice President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, participating in a Mayors Against Illegal Guns Summit in Washington April 14, calling on Congress to pass four “common sense” measures to repair problems in the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System:

Close the Gun Show Loophole – Current federal law allows occasional sellers of firearms, who often operate at gun shows, to sell firearms without performing background checks or keeping records of their sales. The mayors are calling for sales by occasional firearms sellers to be subject to background checks. New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg has introduced legislation (S.2577) to accomplish this.

Close the Terror Gap – While current federal law prohibits nine categories of dangerous persons from purchasing or possessing firearms, it does not extend that prohibition to persons on the terror watch lists. Lautenberg and New York Representative Peter King have introduced legislation (S.1237 and H.R. 2074) that would give the Justice Department authority to block sales to persons identified as terror suspects.

Require Gun Dealers to Perform Criminal Background Checks on All Gun-Handling Employees – Currently, gun dealers are not required to check the background of employees who handle firearms to determine if they are prohibited from possessing them. No legislation has been introduced in Congress to require these criminal background checks.

Close the Fire Sale Loophole – Under current law, gun dealers whose licenses have been revoked for chronic non-compliance with federal law may sell their remaining guns without record keeping or background checks by transferring them from their business inventory into their personal collections. Sales from personal collections by dealers who are no longer licensed are not subject to either background check or record keeping requirements.

In discussing the four proposals, the mayors were careful to point out that the coalition is committed to respecting the rights of gun owners while keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. In remarks made at the close of the summit, Diaz said, “This isn’t about the second amendment, it’s about law and order and protecting the safety of our people.”

Mayors Against Illegal Guns was organized two years ago by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who brought together 15 mayors, including Palmer, in New York City. The bipartisan coalition now includes more than 320 mayors. The April 14 summit was convened by Bloomberg and Menino.

During the summit, a panel of mayors chaired by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin discussed initiatives underway in their cities. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon reported on her city’s regional data sharing initiative. Reading (PA) Mayor Thomas McMahon discussed the integration of mental health records and mental health data into the federal background check system. Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey addressed the issue of lost and stolen guns, which are used in thousands of crimes each year. Providence Mayor David Cicilline discussed the importance of ballistics identification technology, in particular microstamping, which imprints ballistic information useful to law enforcement on the shell casings fired by semiautomatic pistols. Newark (NJ) Mayor Corey Booker described his city’s gun offender registration initiative, which requires individuals convicted of criminal possession of a weapon to register their current addresses and personally report to police.

eir current addresses and personally report to police.

The mayors also heard moving remarks by Joseph Samaha, the father of one of the students murdered at Virginia Tech one year ago. In addition they heard from the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Michael Sullivan; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly; and Chaska (MN) Police Chief Scott Knight, who chairs the Firearms Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

During the summit, Bloomberg and Menino released a bipartisan national poll conducted for the coalition which shows strong support among Americans for common sense measures to cut down on illegal guns. The poll found that 71 percent of Americans believe that stopping gun violence is a “very important” goal, the same portion of people who believe that making sure all Americans have health care is very important and only slightly behind the 75 percent who believe that reducing the price of gas is very important. The poll also showed that at least 80 percent of Americans support each of the four common sense legislative proposals which were endorsed by the coalition.

The poll also showed strong support for the four proposals by supporters of the Presidential candidates. At least 80 percent of supporters of Arizona Senator John McCain and of the Democratic candidates support the four proposals, with McCain supporters registering slightly higher numbers in three of the four. During the discussion, Palmer suggested that similar polling be done regarding Congressional representatives since they are the ones who do, or do not, pass gun safety laws.

Also during the summit a new partnership between Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Wal-Mart, the largest seller of guns in the nation, was announced. Wal-Mart has agreed to implement over time a 10-point code intended to ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands:

1. Videotaping the Point of Sale for All Firearms Transactions;

2. Computerized Crime Gun Trace Log and Alert System;

3. Purchaser Declaration;

4. Deterring Fake IDs;

5. Consistent Visible Signage Consistent Visible Signage;

6. Employee Background Checks;

7. Employee Responsibility Training;

8. Inventory Checking;

9. No Sales Without Background Check Results; and

10. Securing Firearms.

Four mayors who participated in the summit appeared April 15 before the House Task Force on Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group of members created in January 2007. The four mayors – Thomas M. Menino of Boston, Michael Bloomberg of New York City, John Payton of Jacksonville (FL), and Sheila Dixon of Baltimore – discussed the situation in their cities and described the four “common sense” proposals the mayors adopted at the summit. They were joined at the witness table by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.

During the hearing, Bloomberg released an investigative report on illegal gun trafficking commissioned by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The report is based on a review of information from more than 1,000 illegal gun prosecutions, involving the sale of 14,000 guns, and interviews with more than 100 people with intimate knowledge of every phase of the illegal gun trade. It includes 12 specific findings showing how some licensed gun dealers sell handguns to illegal traffickers through straw purchases.

The Task Force is co-chaired by Representatives Charles Rangel (NY), John Conyers (MI), Peter King (NY), and Mark Kirk (IL). King chaired the hearing. Others present at the hearing included Representatives Kirk, Chris Shays (CT), Carolyn McCarthy (NY), Tom Davis (VA), Jim Moran (VA), Xavier Becerra (CA), and Patrick Kennedy (RI).