FACT SHEET: Update on Justice Department ’s Ongoing Efforts to Tackle Gun Violence

FraudsWatch.com
Fraud and Scam News, Examples and Guidelins

<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br &sol;>&NewLine; Wednesday&comma; June 14&comma; 2023<br &sol;>&NewLine; FACT SHEET&colon; Update on Justice Department ’s Ongoing Efforts to Tackle Gun Violence<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On June 14&comma; 2023&comma; Attorney General Merrick B&period; Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa O&period; Monaco <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;speech&sol;attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-remarks-meeting-us-attorneys-violent-crime" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">convened a meeting<&sol;a> with the Criminal Division&comma; FBI&comma; Bureau of Alcohol&comma; Tobacco&comma; Firearms and Explosives &lpar;ATF&rpar;&comma; Drug Enforcement Administration &lpar;DEA&rpar;&comma; U&period;S&period; Marshals Service&comma; and all 93 U&period;S&period; Attorneys to discuss ongoing efforts to reduce violent crime and combat the gun violence that fuels it&period; These efforts include implementing the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act &lpar;BSCA&rpar; passed by Congress and signed by the President last June&semi; addressing the proliferation of untraceable and unlawful &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ghost guns” that threaten public safety&semi; surging resources to federal&comma; state&comma; local&comma; and Tribal law-enforcement partners on the front lines&semi; and adopting other common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the wrong hands&period;   <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Focusing U&period;S&period; Attorney Resources on Gun Crimes&colon; <&sol;strong>Today during the meeting&comma; the Attorney General reiterated his February 2022 direction to U&period;S Attorneys’ Offices to prioritize combating gun violence&period; Among other actions&comma; the Attorney General directed U&period;S&period; Attorneys to increase prosecutorial resources devoted to cracking down on illegal firearm trafficking pipelines&comma; to hold accountable those who possess unlawful &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ghost guns&comma;” and to pursue investigations against unlawful gun dealing&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Expanding Background Checks&colon; <&sol;strong>BSCA expanded background checks to include juvenile criminal and mental health records and local law enforcement contacts for prospective purchasers under the age of 21&period; Since the law’s enactment&comma; the FBI has conducted more than 100&comma;000 enhanced background checks for purchasers under the age of 21&period; Those checks have kept nearly 1&comma;000 firearms out of the hands of dangerous and prohibited persons – including over 200 attempted transactions that were denied solely because of the changes made by BSCA&period; The FBI continues to engage in extensive education and outreach efforts to improve the state and local partnerships necessary to the success of these enhanced background checks&comma; including by hosting webinars attended by over 500 law enforcement agencies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Narrowing the Boyfriend Loophole&colon; <&sol;strong>BSCA also narrowed the so-called &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;boyfriend loophole” by expanding restrictions on firearm purchases by those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence to include those convicted of assault in a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;dating relationship&period;” In August 2022&comma; the FBI implemented the new &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;dating relationship” definition into its background-check system&comma; and in October&comma; the Department trained federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents on the expanded restriction&period; The Department is also continuously engaging in efforts to educate state and local law enforcement&comma; prosecutors&comma; and court personnel on the need to document &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;dating relationship” factors in police reports and court records&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Fighting Illegal Trafficking in Firearms<&sol;strong>&colon; BSCA created new criminal offenses for unlawfully trafficking in firearms and for straw-purchasing a firearm on behalf of a prohibited person&comma; and it expanded the definition of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;engaging in the business” of dealing in firearms&period; In the months since BSCA’s enactment&comma; the Department held multiple trainings for federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents on these new provisions&period; That upfront investment is paying dividends in the courtroom&colon; U&period;S&period; Attorneys’ Offices around the country have already charged more than 100 defendants with the new BSCA offenses of firearms-trafficking and straw-purchasing&comma; and prosecutions for engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license have increased 52&percnt; over their FY2021 level&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Funding Evidence-Based Interventions&colon; <&sol;strong>BSCA authorized a total of &dollar;1&period;4 billion in funding for new and existing violence-prevention and -intervention programs between 2022 and 2026&period; The Department has awarded more than <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;justice-department-announces-over-200-million-investments-state-crisis-intervention" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&dollar;231 million in Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program<&sol;a> grants that will fund state crisis intervention programs&comma; such as drug&comma; mental health&comma; and veterans’ treatment programs and extreme risk protection orders that will keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others&period; State programs funded by the grants so far include&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>Education&comma; training&comma; and public-awareness campaigns on extreme risk protection order &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;red flag”&rpar; laws&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>School resource officer training programs related to gun violence and youth mental health&semi; and<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Drug&comma; mental health&comma; and veterans treatment courts and behavioral health responses such as crisis mobile response teams and stabilization facilities&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>The Department has also announced the allocation of<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ojp&period;gov&sol;files&sol;archives&sol;pressreleases&sol;2022&sol;doj-awards-almost-190-million-grants-support-school-safety" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&dollar;40 million in supplemental STOP School Violence grants<&sol;a>&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ojp&period;gov&sol;files&sol;archives&sol;pressreleases&sol;2022&sol;doj-awards-almost-190-million-grants-support-school-safety" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&dollar;20 million in supplemental COPS School Violence Prevention Program grants<&sol;a>&semi; and<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;justice-department-awards-100-million-reduce-community-violence" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">&dollar;100 million in supplemental Community Violence Intervention Grants<&sol;a>&comma; which will go toward developing and expanding the infrastructure needed to strengthen neighborhood and community safety&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p><strong>Cracking down on ghost guns&colon; <&sol;strong>Privately made firearms &lpar;PMF&rpar; – more commonly known as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ghost guns” – are especially attractive to dangerous and prohibited persons because of their untraceable nature&period; In 2022&comma; the Department recovered 25&comma;785 ghost guns in domestic seizures&comma; as well as 2&comma;453 through international operations&period; So far in 2023&comma; the Department has recovered more than 10&comma;000 PMFs domestically and 1&comma;000 internationally&period; These recoveries come on the heels of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;justice-department-announces-new-rule-modernize-firearm-definitions" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">newly announced Department regulations<&sol;a> that modernize firearm definitions to curb the proliferation of ghost guns&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Enhancing Firearm and Ballistics Tracing Efforts&colon; <&sol;strong>The Department continues to expand the availability and effectiveness of federal investigative resources to help state&comma; local&comma; and Tribal partners solve crimes and bring perpetrators to justice&period; Last year&comma; the National Tracing Center operated by the ATF conducted 622&comma;735 traces for firearms associated with crimes&comma; representing a 10&percnt; increase over 2021 and a 48&percnt; increase over 2017&period; As of June 2023&comma; the National Tracing Center has conducted 299&comma;319 traces and is forecasting a total of over 675&comma;000 traces by the end of this year&period; Nearly 10&comma;000 law enforcement agencies have now been granted access to eTrace&comma; the online system that allows participating agencies to submit firearm traces to ATF&period; And since June 2022&comma; the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network &lpar;NIBIN&rpar; has generated approximately 200&comma;000 leads for law enforcement partners across the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Holding Gun Dealers Who Violate the Law Accountable&colon; <&sol;strong>The Department has adopted an enhanced enforcement policy for federally licensed firearms dealers who willfully violate the law – for example&comma; by refusing to run required background checks or selling guns with full awareness that they will end up in the hands of prohibited persons&period; Earlier this year&comma; the ATF published information on over 90 federal firearms license revocations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> Topic&lpar;s&rpar;&colon; Violent CrimeComponent&lpar;s&rpar;&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;ag&sol;" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Office of the Attorney General<&sol;a>Press Release Number&colon; 23-665 <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> Updated June 14&comma; 2023<a href&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;opa&sol;pr&sol;fact-sheet-update-justice-department-s-ongoing-efforts-tackle-gun-violence> Original Article <&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Share This Article
Follow:
FraudsWatch is а site reporting on fraud and scammers on internet, in financial services and personal. Providing a daily news service publishes articles contributed by experts; is widely reported in thе latest compliance requirements, and offers very broad coverage of thе latest online theft cases, pending investigations and threats of fraud.
Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Exit mobile version