[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
[Page 1421]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Report

June 21, 2000

    Today's report by the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) demonstrates that our administration is 
tough on gun traffickers who peddle guns to criminals and young people. 
Between July 1996 and December 1998, ATF initiated more than 1,500 
firearms trafficking investigations, resulting in Federal convictions of 
812 criminals to a total of 7,420 years in prison--with an average 
sentence of 9 years.
    Gun trafficking puts thousands of guns onto our Nation's streets and 
contributes significantly to our Nation's gun violence problem. The 
investigations documented in today's report involved the diversion of 
more than 84,000 firearms from the legal to illegal market. The report 
shows that loopholes in our laws help make gun shows and corrupt gun 
dealers major channels for gun trafficking. Many of the diverted weapons 
supplied by traffickers were later used to commit serious crimes, 
including homicides, robberies, and assaults. Each gun put into the hand 
of a criminal represents the possibility of one more life lost, one more 
family destroyed.
    Through tough enforcement and smart prevention, we have reduced gun 
crime by 35 percent and increased Federal gun prosecutions 16 percent 
since 1992. There is more we can do to keep guns out of the wrong hands. 
I will continue to press the Congress to fully fund my $280 million gun 
enforcement initiative, to add more ATF agents and inspectors to crack 
down on gun traffickers, corrupt gun dealers, and armed gun criminals, 
as well as hire more Federal, State, and local gun prosecutors to put 
more gun criminals behind bars. But Congress must also close the deadly 
loopholes in our laws that make guns accessible to criminals and 
children in the first place. Congress should move forward to close the 
deadly gun show loophole once and for all and pass other stalled 
commonsense gun measures without further delay.