[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 120 (Tuesday, August 2, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S5240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   COMBATTING ILLEGAL GUN TRAFFICKING

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I speak today in support of a new Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF, rule requiring 
federally licensed firearm dealers in four Southwest border States to 
report the sale of multiple semi-automatic assault rifles to the same 
purchaser. This narrowly tailored reporting requirement, similar to one 
already in place for multiple handgun sales, will provide ATF with an 
important tool to combat straw purchases and the illegal trafficking of 
firearms, including the supply of weapons to drug cartels in Mexico.
  Under the rule, federally licensed dealers in California, Arizona, 
New Mexico, and Texas must report to ATF the sale of multiple semi-
automatic rifles that have a caliber greater than .22 and accept 
detachable magazines to the same person within 5 consecutive business 
days. Weapons covered by the rule include AR-15s and AK-47s, military-
style assault rifles favored by Mexican drug gangs. The rule focuses on 
sales in these four border states because they are the source of 75 
percent of the firearms recovered and traced in drug-related crimes in 
Mexico, according to an analysis of Department of Justice statistics by 
the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. This rule allows ATF to 
collect information on guns that are frequently trafficked and used in 
crimes, improving in the Bureau's tracing efforts. Among other things, 
gun trace information can be used to identify potential trafficking 
networks and to link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal 
investigation.
  Unfortunately, there are some who want to block ATF's ability to 
require this information, effectively hindering its efforts to combat 
gun trafficking and reduce violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The 
National Rifle Association and some Members of Congress have claimed 
that ATF does not have the authority to implement the rule and that the 
rule would cause an unmanageable burden on law-abiding gun dealers. 
Both of these claims are false. The Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 
1986, Public Law 99-308, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 923 (g)(5)(A), explicitly 
states that each Federal firearm licensee shall, when requested by ATF, 
submit to the ATF any information required to be kept by that law, like 
the name and address of a purchaser and a firearm's serial number, or 
such lesser information as ATF may request. Information on the sale of 
multiple semi-automatic rifles is part of the record which firearm 
dealers are required to maintain.
  The claim that ATF's new rule will unfairly burden firearm dealers is 
also unfounded. ATF estimates that completing the form to report 
multiple rifle sales will take 12 minutes for gun dealers, and 
substantially less time for those with computerized sales systems. I 
cannot imagine that the overwhelming majority of Federal firearm 
licensees who are law-abiding will take offense to 12 minutes of work 
in the name of combating illegal trafficking and preventing violence.
  The mandatory reporting of multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles to 
the same person is a measured, common sense step to help combat illegal 
firearm trafficking. The terrible drug cartel-related violence plaguing 
Mexico and spilling north of the border into the United States 
continues to be fueled by weapons illegally trafficked from the 
American Southwest. Again, I support ATF's new rule, and I urge my 
colleagues in Congress to oppose any legislative efforts to block ATF's 
ability to carry it out.

                          ____________________