MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS SENDS SURVEY TO SENATORS JOHN MCCAIN AND BARACK OBAMA

Party Nominees Polled on Coalition’s Six Questions to Fix the Background Check System and Improve Law Enforcement Access to Crime Gun Data

The bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today sent a questionnaire on the topic of illegal guns to Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.  The six-question survey focuses on the common sense steps necessary to fix the nation’s broken background check system, which the coalition endorsed at its national summit in April. The coalition, co-chaired by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, includes over 325 Democratic, Republican, and independent mayors, representing more than 55 million Americans.

“Illegal guns are used to murder 34 Americans every day, and we deserve to hear from those who seek the presidency what they will do to keep guns out of the hands of criminals,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Our bi-partisan coalition is fully committed to fixing the broken background check system, which criminals and terrorists can now easily evade – and that puts all of us at risk.  We expect the next president to make public safety a top priority, and that means getting serious about cracking down on illegal guns and making the background check system work.”

“The presidential race gives our coalition a chance to put illegal gun issues in the national spotlight and in front of the candidates who are vying for the presidency,” said Mayor Menino.  “Regardless of who wins in November, both Senator Obama and Senator McCain have a tremendous opportunity to impact the direction of legislation that would help fix the current flaws in the background check system.  The candidates should realize that illegal guns are a very real threat.  Now they have the chance to respond to our common-sense agenda in their own words.”

“Closing the background check and gun sale system gaps and loopholes is a national public safety imperative if guns are to be kept out of the hands of criminals and others who are not fit to possess them,” said Miami Mayor and US Conference of Mayors President Manny Diaz. “The commonsense corrective measures we mayors propose are vital to the safety and prosperity of the 85 percent of Americans that our cities and metropolitan areas represent. The American people need to see that both candidates understand that.”

The four common sense steps to fix the background check system that are included in the survey were adopted by the coalition at its national summit in April. The four simple steps 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; and
  
  
• Close the Terror Gap that leaves those on the terrorist no-fly list off the list of prohibited purchasers of firearms.

Early this year, Mayors Against Illegal Guns aired TV ads on national cable television and on local network affiliates in seven key primary states that include prior statements of support for closing the gun show loophole from Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns has asked the candidates to reply to the six questions, included below, by September 8, 2008.

1. Gun Show Loophole: Currently, licensed gun dealers are required to run criminal background checks on all buyers, but a gap in the law enables criminals to avoid these checks if they buy from gun-sellers who don’t have licenses. Often operating at gun shows, these unlicensed sellers give criminals the opportunity to sidestep the background check system and easily purchase guns. ATF has reported that about 30% of their investigations into illegal gun trafficking involve guns purchased at gun shows. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has endorsed closing the gun show loophole.
   
   Senator Obama, you have indicated that you support “requiring background checks and closing the gun-show loophole that has been exploited by everyone from foreign terrorists to the Columbine High School shooters”[i] and have said recently: “We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals.”[ii]
   
   Senator McCain, you have said “convicted felons have been able to buy and sell thousands of guns at gun shows because of a loophole in the law. Many were later used in crimes. That’s wrong. Close the loophole”[iii]; and, more recently you said: “I have supported efforts to have NICS background checks apply to gun sales at gun shows. I recognize that gun shows are enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans. I do not support efforts by those who seek to regulate them out of existence. But I believe an accurate, fair and instant background check at guns shows is a reasonable requirement. I also oppose efforts to require federal regulation of all private sales such as the transfer between a father and son or husband and wife.”[iv]
   
   As President, will you commit to push for the passage of legislation in Congress to require background checks on all gun sales at gun shows in 2009?
   
   
2. “Terror Gap”: Six years after 9/11, the federal government still lacks the authority to prevent gun sales to suspects on terror watch lists. The Justice Department’s inability to identify and stop these suspects when they attempt to purchase guns represents a dangerous “Terror Gap” in federal laws. A 2005 GAO study found that suspected terrorists were able to purchase guns from dealers on 47 occasions in just a nine-month period because of the terror gap.  Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Peter King (R-NY) have introduced the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act” (S.1237 and H.R.2074) to close the Terror Gap by giving the Department of Justice the authority to stop a gun sale to a terror suspect.  The Bush Administration and the Department of Justice have endorsed S.1237 and H.R.2074. 
   
   Senator McCain, you have said “I take a backseat to no one in my support of Second Amendment rights. But this right, which Americans have fought and died for, does not extend to terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens.”[v]
   
   Senator Obama, you have indicated a concern that terrorists may acquire firearms and said, “We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals.”[vi]
   
   As President, would you support passage of S.1237/H.R.2074 or other similar legislation to close this Terror Gap in federal laws?
   
   
3. Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) Employee Background Checks: Under the current law, if a person is prohibited from buying guns – because he or she has a felony record or has been adjudicated as mentally defective, for example – that person cannot sell guns either.  But the law does not require dealers to conduct background checks on their employees, even though they already use the background check system in their stores every day. Legislation has just been introduced to make background checks for all employees handling firearms at FFLs mandatory. 
   
   As President, would you support passage of H.R.6676 or other similar legislation that would require that people behind the counter at gun stores pass the same background check as their customers?
   
   
4. Dealer Inventory Sell-offs: When the federal government has shut down a gun dealer for selling illegally, it has nevertheless permitted dealers to sell off inventory – without conducting background checks. The dealer is permitted to do so by simply converting their business inventory to their private collection, at which time they can continue to sell hundreds of guns – without background checks – as an “occasional seller” rather than as a licensed gun dealer. It is the same seller, selling the same guns – but with all the safeguards removed. These inventory sales for dealers who lose licenses reward instead of punish the gun dealers who break the law. Legislation has been introduced to end such inventory sell-offs to the public, while allowing dealers who lose their licenses to sell or transfer inventory to other FFLs.
   
   As President, would you support passage of H.R.6664 or other similar legislation to put an end to the practice of allowing gun dealers whose licenses have been revoked for selling guns illegally to continue selling guns in their inventory without doing background checks?
   
   
5. Tiahrt Amendment: In 2004, Congress put in place an appropriations restriction that limits access by local law enforcement, cities, and states to crime gun trace data, which is critical for catching criminals, illegal traffickers, and dealers who break the law.  According to ATF, 57% of guns recovered in crimes originate from just 1.2% of gun dealers – yet the Tiahrt Amendment has prevented cities and states from identifying these dealers.  Our coalition of hundreds of mayors, 10 national police organizations – including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police – and 22 state and regional police groups have called on Congress to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment restrictions.
   
   Senator McCain, you have said that crime gun trace information “is not top secret data that jeopardizes our national security, or hinders law enforcement. We cannot have a government that operates in secret and refuses to release information that shows where criminals have obtained a gun.”[vii]
   
   Senator Obama, you have said indicated that you will “repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade.”[viii]
   
   As President, would you eliminate the Tiahrt Amendment crime gun trace data restrictions in your budgets for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)?
   
   
6. Mental Health Records and Background Checks: Federal law currently prohibits persons determined to be mentally unstable from purchasing or possessing firearms.  As you may know, under this existing prohibition, Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, was legally prohibited from buying guns.  Unfortunately, millions of mental health records are currently missing from the federal NICS background check database.  According to the Department of Justice and nonpartisan congressional Office of Technology Assessment, only about one-sixth of the people who should be prevented from having guns under federal law due to mental illness are included in NICS Mental Defectives database.  Mayors Against Illegal Guns supports full funding of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, which Congress passed unanimously and was signed into law by President Bush on January 8, 2008, that seeks to ensure that states provide all mental health records of persons already prohibited from buying guns to the federal NICS background check database.
   
   Senator Obama, you have said that the country must do a “more effective job of enforcing our gun laws, strengthening our background check system.”[ix]
   
   Senator McCain, your campaign website says that you support “instant criminal background checks to help prohibit criminals from buying firearms and has voted to ensure they are conducted thoroughly, efficiently, and without infringing on the rights of law abiding citizens.”[x]
   
   Will your first proposed budget include full funding of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007?

SOURCES FOR CAMPAIGN QUOTES AND STATEMENTS

[i] Obama campaign website, accessed July 24 2008,, Urban Policy section, http://www.barackobama.com/issues/urbanpolicy/
#crime-and-law-enforcement

[ii] Obama campaign statement, June 26, 2008, available at http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/
stateupdates/gG5NxL

[iii] Americans For Gun Safety TV ad campaign, October 2000, transcript at http://www.campaignadvantage.com/services/websites/
archive/ags/ad_mccain.html

[iv] Remarks before NRA convention, May 16, 2008, cited at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/blog/2008/05/
mccain_urges_closing_gun_show.html

[v] Congressional Record – Senate, Statements on introduced bills and joint resolutions, October 31, 2003, page S13711, available through searching at www.thomas.gov

[vi] Obama campaign statement, June 26, 2008, available at http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/
stateupdates/gG5NxL

[vii] Senate remarks, Congressional Record – Senate, January 21, 2004, page S87 http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?
position=all&page=S87&dbname=2004_record

[viii] BarackObama.com, “Plan to Stimulate Urban Prosperity”, Barack Obama Campaign website,  http://www.barackobama.com/issues/urbanpolicy/
#crime-and-law-enforcement

[ix] Remarks at a press conference, February 15, 2008, cited at http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02
/barack_obama_comments_on_shoot.html

[x] “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” accessed July 24, 2008, http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/77636553-
6337-4ecd-b170-49e1c07d2fbd.htm