MAYORS TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL TASK FORCE ON ILLEGAL GUNS ON COMMON SENSE STEPS TO FIX BROKEN BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Brings the Four Common Sense Steps Put Forward at Monday's National Summit

Four mayors from the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition testified before the Congressional Task Force on Illegal Guns, a bi-partisan group of U.S. House Members that was created in January 2007. The testimony from the four mayors, Thomas M. Menino of Boston, Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, John Peyton of Jacksonville and Sheila Dixon of Baltimore, outlined the four common sense steps put forward by the 322-member bi-partisan coalition of mayors at their National Summit on Monday. A panel of individuals who are directly knowledgeable about the illegal guns trade, including a former trafficker, straw purchaser, and gun store employee, also testified before the House task force. Some of the experiences of this panel of witnesses, as well as the experiences of many others, are described in a new Mayors Against Illegal Guns report, Inside Straw Purchasing: How Criminals Get Guns Illegally. The hearing was held in the Rayburn House Office Building.

"We need partners at the state level and at the federal level to fight illegal guns," said Mayor Menino. "That's why it was such a positive development last year when, during the 2007 Mayors Against Illegal Guns summit, the bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Illegal Guns was launched. Together, we will continue to work for common sense measures to fight illegal gun trafficking."

"Our coalition has commissioned a report that puts gun trafficking under a microscope," said Mayor Bloomberg. "We conducted a review of information from more than 1,000 illegal gun prosecutions, involving the sale of 14,000 guns, and interviewed more than 100 people who have intimate knowledge of every phase of the illegal gun trade. I want to thank all members of this task force for hearing what our report has to say about illegal trafficking and having the courage to step up and help provide the national, bi-partisan leadership that Washington desperately needs."

The co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on Illegal Guns are Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY); Rep. John Conyers (D-MI); Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL). Other members of the task force who attended today's hearing are Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT); Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY); Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA); Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA); Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY); Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI); Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA); Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ).

"I'm convinced that there is no real opposition in Congress to the control of illegal guns," said Representative Rangel. "The key is joining the efforts of Members of Congress with mayors and local officials to support each other in fighting the problem. That is what this initiative is about - and that's why I believe it has a good chance to succeed. I commend Mayor Bloomberg for his leadership on this important issue."

"Throughout my time in Congress, I have fought to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to keep our communities safe," said Representative King. "To strengthen this effort, we must close the dangerous loopholes in our gun laws to keep illegal firearms off our streets and out of the hands of criminals."

"I am grateful to Mayor Bloomberg and the other members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns for coming here to Washington to inform us of the gun violence issues they are facing around the nation," said Representative McCarthy. "I look forward to continuing to work with them to make sure that law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to keep our communities safe. I believe that together, we can get Congress to pass sensible measures that address the core issues associated with gun violence."

The four common sense steps to fix the background check system that the Mayors Against Illegal Guns adopted at the National Summit and brought to Capitol Hill are:

• Close the gun show loophole;
  
  
• Require gun dealers to perform criminal background checks on all gun-handling employees;
  
  
• Close the fire sale loophole that allows dealers whose licenses have been revoked to continue to sell their inventory without conducting background checks; and
  
  
• Close the Terror Gap that leaves those on the terrorist no-fly list off the list of prohibited purchasers of firearms.

"I was shocked to learn that we can keep suspected terrorists from getting on an airplane, but we currently have no way to block them from buying a gun," said Mayor Peyton. "Closing that loophole, as well as closing the gun show loophole is no threat to law abiding gun owners. But it's a real inconvenience for criminals looking to acquire a weapon without going through a background check. We have been to too many crime scenes and too many funerals. And it's time to take common sense steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists."

"Loopholes in state and federal law hamper even our best efforts to get illegal guns and the criminals who use them off our streets," said Mayor Dixon. It simply comes down to good common sense, we can't close them fast enough and we cannot win this fight without the help of Congress."

Inside Straw Purchasing: How Criminals Get Guns Illegally
The report the Mayors Against Illegal Guns presented to the Congressional Task Force, Inside Straw Purchasing: How Criminals Get Guns Illegally, is an unprecedented examination of the illegal gun trade. The report includes a review of information from over 1,000 prosecutions that involve over 14,000 guns and draws from interviews with over 100 individuals with intimate knowledge of how criminals get guns illegally. The report presents 12 specific findings showing how some licensed gun dealers sell handguns to illegal traffickers through straw purchases. The full report is available at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org.

Wal-Mart Announces Voluntary Effort to Strengthen Sales Practices
Participants in the hearing also discussed the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership, a 10-point code adopted by Wal-Mart, the largest seller of firearms in the nation. Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Wal-Mart developed the code to curb some of the most common ways guns end up in the hands of criminals. Under the code, Wal-Mart's stores that sell firearms will implement video recording of sales, rigid controls on inventory, checks that gun purchasers are not misrepresenting themselves and the development of a first-of-its kind computerized crime gun trace log for retailers. When enacted, the code will make it far more difficult for a criminal to obtain firearm in the ways described Inside Straw Purchasing: How Criminals Get Guns Illegally.