End to Illegal Gun Trafficking?

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A new legislative effort is designed to combat illegal firearms trafficking in the US. A bill introduced by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) aims at combating straw purchasing and illegal trafficking in firearms to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act would make it a federal crime to act as a straw purchaser of a firearm. 

Straw purchasing is when an agent purchases a good or service for another person who cannot or does not want to purchase that good or service themselves. Additionally, the bill would create penalties for anyone who transfers a firearm to someone else if they have reasonable cause to believe it would be used in drug crimes, crimes of violence, or acts of terrorism.

“Straw purchasing is intended to achieve one result: to put a gun in the hands of a criminal who cannot legally obtain one. Traffickers, in particular, exploit weaknesses in federal law by targeting people who can lawfully purchase guns. Then, those traffickers use those guns to commit crimes or sell them to other criminals. This practice also fuels the opioid epidemic that is taking a devastating toll on all of our communities,” Collins said, according to homelandprepnews.com. 

The legislation is supported by various law enforcement organizations in the US.