Gun Safety

Gun violence continues to plague communities across the country. Too many Americans are gunned down in cities and towns every day and mass shootings like those at Sandy Hook, Pulse Nightclub, Charleston, Las Vegas, and Sutherland Springs are all too common. These horrifying incidents serve as reminders that Congress needs to fight for common sense policies to make Americans safer.

Congresswoman Maloney has long supported sensible gun safety reforms, starting with support of The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, named for President Reagan’s press secretary, Jim Brady, who suffered grievous injuries in the assassination attempt on the President. That law provides for background checks for most handgun purchases, and has stopped thousands of dangerous individuals from buying firearms.

Since that historic act, Congresswoman Maloney has pushed several key bills to crack down on gun violence by making gun trafficking illegal, allowing federal public health agencies to conduct research into gun safety, closing the gun show loophole, and supporting innovative “smart gun” technology. She has also cosponsored legislation to require universal background checks, limit the number of rounds within magazine clips, and renew the expired assault weapons ban.

 

Bills Introduced by Rep. Maloney to Improve Gun Safety and Reduce Gun Violence:

GUN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION ACT

For years, federal law enforcement has asked Congress for better tools to go after gun traffickers and people who buy guns for those who are prohibited from buying guns on their own, also known as “straw purchasers”. Under this bill, gun trafficking will now be a federal felony offense and straw purchasers would face much stiffer penalties.

 

GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE CLOSING ACT

Currently, people who buy guns at gun shows are not subject to background checks. This bill would close this loophole and subject all gun purchasers to the background check requirements already in place at gun stores.

 

FIREARM RISK PROTECTION ACT

We need to incentivize responsible gun ownership. This bill would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance, which will help to ensure they use and store their guns responsibly.

 

GUN VIOLENCE RESEARCH

Currently, federal public health researchers are prohibited from studying gun violence. Gun violence is a national epidemic and we need to study its root causes so we can come up with realistic, workable solutions. This bill will allow our federal researchers to do just that.

 

THE NICS REVIEW ACT

This commonsense bill will make it less likely that guns get into the wrong hands. It would require that the FBI keep all National Instant Background Check System (NICS) records for 90 days after giving gun purchasing approval so that the FBI and ATF have the time they need to review background check records. This simple change would make it more difficult for dangerous individuals to skirt the law and the safeguards we’ve put in place. 

 

HANDGUN TRIGGER SAFETY ACT

This bill would promote the development of new “smart gun” technology that only allows an authorized user to fire a gun. It would also mandate that all newly manufactured handguns use this technology within five years, and that existing handguns be retrofitted with this technology within ten years.

 

STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM ACT

This bill makes it more difficult for those with severe mental illness to purchase a firearm by requiring the Social Security Administration to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System disability recipients unable to manage their benefits due to a mental health condition.  This was originally a rule proposed by President Obama but was repealed by President Trump and Republicans last year.

 

Select Additional Policies Supported by Rep. Maloney: 

BANNING BUMP STOCKS

Rep. Maloney is a co-sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the sale of bump stocks, which allow non-automatic weapons to fire like one.

 

UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS

Nearly 90% of Americans support universal background checks, and so does Rep. Maloney. She believes that background checks should be conducted on all gun sales.

 

BANNING HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES

Sixty-five percent of Americans support banning high-capacity magazines because no gun owner needs that much ammunition at one time. Rep. Maloney supports banning these massacre magazines.

 

NO FLY NO BUY

Rep. Maloney believes that if an individual is on the “No Fly List,” they should also be prohibited from purchasing a firearm. That’s why she supports the “No Fly, No Buy” bill.

 

ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

Rep. Maloney voted for the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 and has supported its reauthorization since it expired in 2004.

 

SELECT COMMITTEE ON GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Rep. Maloney is cosponsoring legislation to create a select committee to study and make recommendations to address the causes of mass shootings, methods to improve the Federal firearms purchaser background check system, connections between access to firearms and dangerously mentally ill individuals, federal penalties for trafficking and straw purchasing of firearms, and more.