Press Release
Posted:
Napa, CA – Today Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that he is coauthoring Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05)’s NICS Denial Act that would give public safety officers a better mechanism to enforce existing gun laws and crack down on prohibited purchasers like felons or domestic abusers who attempt to purchase guns.
“Background checks are the most effective and efficient way to help prevent gun violence. In addition to enacting H.R. 8, my bipartisan bill to expand background checks, we must improve the existing background checks system,” said Chairman Thompson. “That’s why I’ve cosponsored Representative Quigley’s NICS Denial Act to help improve enforcement and reporting on background checks and keep guns out of the hands of those who might be a danger to themselves or others. This is a critical piece of our work to strengthen background checks and keep our communities safe.”
“Over the past year, we’ve seen gun violence spike in cities across the country. Now more than ever, ensuring all levels of law enforcement – federal, state, and local – are able to communicate effectively, we can prevent firearms from getting into the hands of convicted felons and domestic abusers,” said Quigley. “The NICS Denial Notification Act is common sense, bipartisan legislation that will play a key role in the fight to prevent needless gun violence.”
Federal law makes it a felony for people to lie about their prohibited status when they undergo a background check to buy a gun. But the Federal government often does not prosecute these individuals. The NICS Denial Act addresses this problem by requiring Federal officials to let state law enforcement know about background check denials, giving state officials better tools to investigate and prosecute these prohibited purchases. The bill also requires an annual report from the Department of Justice outlining statistics about prosecutions of these cases, so that Congress can hold Federal officials accountable. You can read more here(link is external).