Mayors Against Illegal Guns strongly opposes H.R.1093, a bill that purports to support the "modernization" of federal law enforcement efforts, but in fact would undermine federal agents and local police as they continue their fight against illegal guns. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has written to Congress to express the coalition's grave concern about this legislation.

H.R.1093 repackages and worsens provisions from so-called “ATF Modernization and Reform” bills considered but not passed in the last three Congresses, including H.R.2296/S.941 in the 111th Congress, H.R.4900 in the 110th Congress, and H.R.5005 and H.R.5092 in the 109th Congress. Mayors Against Illegal Guns strongly opposed all of these bills. H.R.1093 goes beyond those bills in several ways and invents new ways to handcuff law enforcement.The coalition opposes many provisions of HR 2296/S.941 for a number of important reasons, including:

• H.R.1093 defines dangerous crimes, like selling a gun without a background check, as “minor” violations in most cases: Unlike prior versions of “ATF Reform” bills, H.R.1093 defines some of the most dangerous violations – including losing track of guns, failing to record the buyer’s information and failing to conduct background checks – as “minor” in most cases. Under the guise of giving ATF more “flexibility” to impose fines or suspend licenses in lieu of revocation, H.R.1093 would permit ATF to seek only limited penalties -- written warnings, generally small fines (which may accrue without interest), or perhaps eventually a license suspension -- for many of the most dangerous public safety violations. This new revision to this proposal would effectively eliminate license revocation as a potential remedy for significant if not vast numbers of dangerous public safety violations committed by licensees. Predecessor bills, including H.R. 2296/S.941, treated such violations as “serious,” not “minor.”
  
  
• H.R.1093 makes it almost impossible to impose any sanctions on lawbreaking gun dealers: Current law allows ATF to revoke a gun dealer’s license if the dealer knew the law and “disregarded” or was “plainly indifferent” to it – a substantial burden of proof. Although this bill allows a greater range of penalties, it requires an unnecessarily high evidentiary standard to impose any of those penalties. The bill requires ATF to show that the dealer both knew the law and acted intentionally to break it, a standard that exceeds normal requirements for civil and criminal cases. In other words, regardless of whether ATF seeks a mere warning or ultimately a license revocation, the agency would have to prove a dealer’s mental state at the time the violations occurred – a virtually impossible standard to satisfy in these cases, and wholly inappropriate in administrative actions.
  
  
• H.R.1093 gives extra protection to dealers who break the law repeatedly: When gun dealers are found to be breaking the law, ATF’s current policy is to warn them repeatedly and train them – often for years - on how to comply before seeking to revoke their licenses. But H.R.1093 specifies that, even when dealers commit the same record keeping violation over and over, such as losing track of guns or failing to record buyers’ names so that law enforcement can trace crime guns, the repetition of the violation cannot be used as evidence of the dealer’s intentional disregard of the law for purposes of revocation. Prior bills, including H.R. 2296/S.941, did not include this provision. Additionally, the bill provides for a five-year statute of limitations on adverse licensure actions for almost any violation -- when ATF is currently able to inspect licensees only once every ten years.
  
  
• H.R.1093 significantly reduces DOJ authority to inspect records of gun transactions: Since 1968, federally licensed dealers have been required to keep records of who buys guns from them to help law enforcement detect and solve crimes. Current law obliges dealers to provide that information to ATF “when required by letter issued by the Attorney General.” That requirement, 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(5)(A), was enacted as part of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, which was backed by the National Rifle Association. H.R.1093 would almost entirely deprive ATF of that authority. These “demand letters” are a key law enforcement tool. ATF has used them to get sale records from dealers who will not otherwise cooperate with investigations and to get more complete information from dealers who appear to be supplying gun traffickers. Most recently, ATF has proposed using these letters to gather information on bulk sales of AK-47 and AR-15 type assault weapons near the Mexican border – sales that are likely to be supplying drug cartels. This change would handicap police by preventing them from getting the information they need to track crime guns to their suppliers, solve violent crimes and detect illegal gun traffickers.
  
  
• H.R.1093 allows dealers to sell guns for 60 days after their licenses are revoked: the bill would loosen current regulations by allowing lawbreaking dealers that have had their licenses revoked by ATF to continue selling guns to the public for 60 days as if their licenses were still valid. After those 60 days, dealers would be allowed to transfer what remains of their inventory to a “personal collection” and sell them off without background checks.
  
  
• H.R.1093 blocks ATF from updating record-keeping: This bill would prevent ATF from transferring records of gun sales made by law-breaking dealers from microfilm to fully searchable electronic databases – an absurd obstruction in the information age. This measure has no rational purpose other than to impede law enforcement efforts to crack down on corrupt dealers.
  
  
• H.R.1093 removes the requirement that federally licensed dealers (FFLs) report multiple handgun sales to state or local law enforcement: The bill would allow FFLs to report multiple handgun sales only to ATF. Multiple handgun sales records are a recognized sign of trafficking activity. ATF would be allowed, but not required, to share these records with state or local law enforcement. Current federal law requires FFLs to report multiple handgun sales both to ATF and to state or local law enforcement.
  
  
• H.R.1093 slants license revocation procedures in favor of law-breaking gun dealers: Under this bill, ATF would have to give a preview of its evidence to a law-breaking dealer before revoking his or her license, but the dealer would not have to give ATF a preview of its defense. Furthermore, if ATF’s decision is overturned on appeal, ATF would have to pay the dealer’s attorney’s fees. The Equal Access to Justice Act currently treats ATF like most other agencies: dealers who get an ATF decision overturned in court will recover attorneys’ fees and other costs, with certain narrow exceptions – including cases in which the court finds that ATF’s position, while mistaken, was “substantially justified.” This bill would create different and more generous rules for firearm licensure, including requiring the government to pay even if its decision was substantially justified. In addition, where ATF seeks to impose fines against proven violators, the bill allows the law-breaking dealers to provide information establishing their purported “ability” to pay, but does not allow ATF to follow up with requests for related information or other specific financial records regarding dealers' actual ability to pay.

The coalition's letter urges each member of Congress to oppose HR 1093 in the interest of public safety and law enforcement. We encourage elected officials and members of the public to call their representatives in Congress to tell them that at a time when gun crime is a growing nationwide problem, laws on the books designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals should be enforced, not repealed.
Read the letter that the Mayors Against Illegal Guns sent to Congress (in PDF)