PENDING LEGISLATION:

• The Gun Violence Prevention Research Act of 2019
• (H.R. 674, introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY and S. 184 introduced by Sen. Edward Markey, D-MA)
• Purpose:  To Fully Fund Gun Violence Research At The CDC.

This legislation directs Congress to provide the funding that has been committed to the CDC to study violence with guns over the next five years.  In 2018 Congress lifted its prohibition on gun violence research, which includes the CDC.  House Democrats have passed a bill allocating $50 million for gun violence research, but it has yet to be funded.  Republicans are standing in the way, with Mitch McConnell preventing it from reaching the Senate floor.  ^[1]Union of Concerned Scientists, Science for a Healthy Planet and Safer World;  https://www.ucsusa.org/suppressing-research-effects-gun-violence

The CDC is our nation’s best resource on health issues, with the expertise to research gun violence at all levels, including urban and rural settings.  With CDC involvement gun violence would be addressed as a public health issue focusing on preventing/reducing gun violence (not firearm legislation) on an individual and community level by shifting behaviors.  This is not a new concept; it is the way the issues of seat belts, STDs, smoking, and alcoholism and drug use were dealt with.   Funding this research would provide healthcare professionals the comprehensive medical research they need to effectively treat patient’s physical injuries and multifaceted mental trauma of victim and their loved ones.  Law enforcement and the legal system also need comprehensive research to provide a fact-based understanding of the what causes gun violence if they are to effectively deal with the legal nightmares they face daily.

A Brief History:  In 1993 the CDC’s National Center for Injury Control and Prevention (NCIC) published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that reported guns in the home increased the risk of homicide by someone in the household, rather than offering protection.  The NRA quickly pounced on this and began a campaign to promote legislation prevented funding for gun violence research.  In 1996 Rep. Jay Dickey successfully inserted such a provision into a federal spending bill that resulted in the demise of the NCIC.  By 2012, this language was extended to all Department of Health and Human Service agencies, including the NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that funded a study in 2009 to examine whether carrying a gun increases or decreases the risk of gun violence. The NRA has consistently, and incorrectly, promoted the idea that such studies were “junk science” that was meant to take away everyone’s guns.   Since 1996 Jay Dickey has decided he was wrong, telling the Huffington Post in 2015 that he wished…” we had started the proper research and kept it going all this time.  I have regrets.”

• Expanding Brady Background Checks ^[2]Brady is About Common-Sense Gun Laws; https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation
• (H.R. 8, introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA and S. 42 Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT)
• Purpose:  To Expand Brady Background Checks to Every Gun Sale.

 On February 27, 2019, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8  that would expand Brady Background Checks. The bill now heads to the Senate. It must be passed in its original, clean version.

Bill’s Language:  It will be unlawful to…” sell or transfer a firearm in any way without a Brady Background Check… subject to the narrow exceptions…”  See https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation for full list of exceptions.

History: The Brady Law requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL’s – or gun dealers licensed by the ATF) to initiate background checks prior to selling a firearm.  Gun sales from gun shows, private transactions, and websites like Armslist.com facilitate gun sales online and do not require background checks.  Approximately 20% of all gun sales are conducted without a background check.  This loophole allows convicted felons, domestic abusers, and other dangerous people to obtain guns.  In 2018 a …” study found that 97 percent of Americans support expanding Brady Background Checks to all gun sales—including more than 80 percent of gun owners.”  Gun murders fell by 32% from 1993-2006 after the Brady Law went into effect.^[3] Brady is About Common-Sense Gun Laws; https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation

• Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019  ^[4]Brady is About Common-Sense Gun Laws; https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation
•  (H.R. 1236 Introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-CA and S. 506 Dianne Feinstein, D-CA)
• Purpose: Allow Temporary Removal of Guns From People In Crisis

 The Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019 creates a program, under the Dept. of Justice, to award grants to states to establish laws that would allow family members, law enforcement, and sometimes other key individuals, such as health professionals or school administrators, a way to prevent a person in crisis from harming themselves or others.   The legislation requires an ex-parte process  by which a temporary order can be issued by a civil court judge to remove firearms from a person’s possession if it can be demonstrated that he/she is a danger to him/herself or others with a firearm in the near future.

Should evidence warrant temporarily removing a gun(s) from an individual in crisis, the judge then issues an extreme risk order.  The order allows law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from that person and prevents the person from purchasing a gun.  When the order is terminated, law enforcement returns the firearm(s).

The legislation establishes minimum standards in order to be eligible for grants while allowing states to tailor a law to their unique circumstances, including termination or renewal orders.  At least 25% of the grant money would be mandated to train law enforcement. For more detailed information, including information on how extreme risk laws in some states have proved successful in reducing suicides (Gifford Law Center) see the following links.

https://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/extreme-risk-protection-orders/

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1236/all-info?r=1

https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation/extreme-risk-protection-order-act-of-2019-h-r-1236-and-s-506

• The Enhanced Background Checks Act  ^[5]https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation/the-enhanced-background-checks-act-of-2019-hr-1112-charleston-loophole
• (H.R. 1112 Introduced by Majority Whip Rep. Clyburn, D-SC and Rep Peter King, R-NY)
• Purpose:  Prohibiting the purchase of a gun before a background check is completed.  AKA The “Charleston Loophole”

Federal law allows a licensed firearm dealer to transfer a gun to a customer (called a default proceed) if the federal background check isn’t completed within three business days of the request to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).   The shooter who killed nine innocent people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. was one of the roughly 3% who was sold a gun under the default proceed.  If the check had been completed in time, this shooter’s purchase would have been denied.

The default proceed puts law enforcement in danger as well as the general public.  It is the ATF or local law enforcement who much retrieve firearms when a purchaser is denied after the fact.  The retrieval process which puts law enforcement lives at risk, would be unnecessary with the passage of H.R. 1112.

Each year 4% of background checks are not processed within 3 days, which means hundreds of thousands will be sold under the default proceed provision.  H.R. 1112 will extend the background check review to ten days, rather than three.  There is a provision to extend the time by another ten days should a thorough FBI require more time to complete an investigation. ^[6]https://www.bradyunited.org/legislation/the-enhanced-background-checks-act-of-2019-hr-1112-charleston-loophole