MAIG Coalition: Gabrielle Giffords Calls On Congress

Uploaded on Jan 30, 2013 by maigcoalition
"Gabby Giffords made deeply moving opening remarks at today's Senate hearing on gun violence. This was the first hearing on guns since President Obama stepped forward with his recommendations, and Former Congresswoman Giffords made the most of the opportunity to call on members of Congress to take action now."

"[M]aigcoalition" is the YouTube arm of the very focused, intense, laudable group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.  Perhaps you've received a hundred emails or so from them as they "Demand A Plan" -- MAIG's grassroots initiative, a bipartisan coalition of more than 800 mayors desirous of keeping weaponry out of dangerous hands.

Lest we think these are just folks jumping on a bandwagon driven by the "sensationalism" of recent headlines, here are the 40 Action Items they posited in a blueprint published in 2009:


Recommendations from Mayors Against Illegal Guns:  A Blueprint for Implementation

1. The FBI should inform state and 
local law enforcement every time 
NICS reports that a prohibited 
person has attempted to purchase 
a firearm and, when appropriate, 
inform state mental health 
agencies when NICS rejects a 
buyer due to mental health.
The Federal Bureau 
of Investigations 
(FBI), Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco 
& Firearms (ATF)


2.  The Justice Department should 
identify which NICS rejections 
should be investigated and 
prosecuted. 
DOJ, FBI, ATF 

3. The Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) should require 
REAL ID-compliant identification 
for all gun purchases after 
December 1, 2014.
The Department of 
Homeland Security 
(DHS), White 
House Office of 
Management and 
Budget (OMB)

4. NICS should electronically verify 
the validity of and the name 
associated with any state-issued 
identification number provided on 
a background check Form 4473.
FBI 

5.  ATF should perform background 
checks on employees of federal 
firearms licensees at the licensees’ 
request.
ATF, FBI 

6.  ATF should perform background 
checks on gun dealer employees 
during audit inspections.
ATF, FBI 

7.  The Justice Department should 
notify dealers stripped of their 
licenses that they will continue 
to be “engaged in the business” 
if they dispose of inventory in 
significant quantities for profit.
DOJ, ATF

8.  ATF should fully enforce the 
requirement that dealers notify 
ATF within five business days 
whenever they transfer more than 
one handgun to an unlicensed 
person, including when dealers 
transfer more than one handgun to 
their own personal collections.  
ATF 

9.  ATF should maintain NICS 
records of default proceed sales to 
persons on the terrorist watch list 
for 20 years and all other records 
of default proceed sales for six 
months.  
ATF, FBI

10.  When tracing guns, ATF National 
Tracing Center (NTC) personnel 
should be trained to routinely ask 
the FFL who sold the gun whether 
the recovered gun was purchased 
at a gun show and the location of 
that gun show, and then use the 
data to identify problematic gun 
shows.
ATF 

11.  ATF field agents should have the 
discretion to conduct criminal 
enforcement operations at 
gun shows when trace data, 
prosecutions, and witness 
statements suggest a particular 
show is a source of crime guns.
ATF 

12.  ATF should increase enforcement 
activities to deter sales to 
prohibited purchasers by 
unlicensed gun sellers.
ATF

13.  ATF should investigate private 
sellers at gun shows who appear to 
be engaged in the business without 
a license.
ATF 

14.  At gun shows known for criminal 
activity, agents should have 
discretion to compare purchasers’ 
addresses reported on Form 4473 
to their state driving records. 
ATF 

15.  ATF should expand Project 
Gunrunner by increasing the ATF 
personnel assigned to interdict gun 
trafficking from the United States 
to Mexico.
DOJ, ATF, DHS, 
OMB, State 
Department, 
Congress

16.  ATF should establish an Interstate 
Firearms Trafficking Unit 
(IFTU) run by an ATF Deputy 
Chief to coordinate interstate 
investigations.
ATF, DOJ, OMB, 
Congress

17.  ATF should receive an additional 
$53 million annually to hire more 
inspectors to meet its target of 
triennial dealer audits.
DOJ, ATF, OMB, 
Congress

18.  ATF should enforce a dealer’s 
license revocation when the 
dealer’s administrative appeals are 
exhausted.
ATF

19.  ATF inspectors should conduct 
undercover investigations to 
assess gun dealer compliance with 
federal laws and regulations.  
ATF

20.  ATF should investigate all 
incidents involving thefts of five 
or more guns from dealers or 
individuals.  
ATF 

21.  ATF should require FFLs to report 
to the National Crime Information 
Center (NCIC) thefts of firearms 
from common carriers and bonded 
warehouses. 
ATF 

22.  The federal government should 
report annually on lost and stolen 
guns.
DOJ, ATF 

23.  DOJ should support an 
additional 250 state and local 
law enforcement officers to be 
assigned to ATF Task Forces. 
DOJ, ATF, OMB, 
Congress

24.  ATF should create an Office 
of Tactical Trace Analysis at 
the National Tracing Center to 
proactively analyze trace data 
and to identify gun traffickers and 
problematic dealers.
ATF, DOJ, OMB, 
Congress

25.  The Office of Tactical Trace 
Analysis should use a trace-toNICS-check ratio to determine 
which dealers have a high volume 
of crime-gun traces compared to 
their approximate sales volume.
ATF 

26.  When dealers fail to respond to 
trace requests, ATF should send 
demand letters, search FFLs’ 
sales records, and/or require 
them to provide sworn statements 
describing when and to whom the 
gun was transferred. 
ATF 

27.  The Justice Department should 
require FFLs to keep logs of gun 
trace requests. 
ATF, OMB 

28.  ATF should require a second, 
hidden serial number on every 
newly manufactured gun.   
ATF, OMB 

29.  In the alternative, ATF should 
require that serial numbers be 
placed on steel and not soft metal, 
require stamped rather than etched 
marks on the gun surface, and 
require marks to be 0.0005 deep 
and 1/8 inch tall.
ATF, OMB

30.  ATF should require domestic 
manufacturers to use a 
standardized system for 
numbering firearms.  
ATF, OMB 

31.  The federal government should 
invest in local efforts to reduce 
recidivism among gun offenders.  
DOJ, OMB, 
Congress

32.  The federal government should 
increase support for community 
programs that generate tips on 
illegal firearms trafficking. 
DOJ, OMB

33.  ATF should promote the 
Responsible Firearms Retailer 
Partnership (RFRP), pioneered by 
Wal-Mart, as a voluntary program 
for gun dealers to deter the 
movement of guns into the illegal 
market.
ATF 

34.  DOJ and ATF should 
produce updated versions of 
groundbreaking reports on illegal 
firearms trafficking.
DOJ, ATF 

35.  ATF should expand the scope of 
its trace reports. 
DOJ, ATF 

36.  DOJ should fund external research 
of emerging problems in illegal 
gun trafficking and the results of 
enforcement efforts.
DOJ, ATF 

37.  Consumer Products Safety 
Commission (CPSC) should 
evaluate and develop industry 
standards for locks that meet legal 
requirements.
CPSC 

38.  The federal government should 
resume enforcement of federal 
law that bans importing “nonsporting purpose” firearms and 
ammunition. 
DHS, ATF, DOJ

39.  ATF should identify the long guns 
most linked to crime and require 
dealers to report multiple sales of 
such guns.
ATF 

40.  ATF should reclassify the Stinger 
pen gun, as well as any other 
pen guns introduced since 2002, 
as “Any Other Weapons” under 
the National Firearms Act, 
thereby subjecting them to strict 
background check, licensing, and 
registration requirements.
ATF