More than 500 people charged with federal crimes under gun safety law signed by Biden – San Diego Union-Tribune

By COLLEEN LONG

WASHINGTON — More than 500 people — some linked to transnational cartels and organized crime rings — have been charged with gun trafficking and other crimes under landmark gun safety legislation signed Tuesday by President Joe Biden two years ago.

A White House report obtained by The Associated Press on the implementation of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act also says enhanced background checks under the new law stopped about 800 gun sales to people under 21 who would be prohibited from purchasing them.

He points out that 14 states are using or considering using legislation funding to better use alert laws, which allow law enforcement to take guns away from people in crisis, but which are often underutilized or poorly understood. And the report explains how $85 million in funding was awarded to 125 school districts in 18 states to help identify students who need mental health care and help them access it.

“It was designed to reduce gun violence and save lives,” Biden said recently of the law. “And I’m very proud of the enormous progress we’ve made since then.”

The bill marks a landmark achievement for the Democratic president, and details of how it was implemented come as he seeks re-election in November. But Biden is also quick to say the law doesn’t go far enough, as he continues to push for stricter background checks and has called for a ban on assault weapons.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, has promised there would be no new gun regulations if he returns to the White House.

Trump has spoken twice this year at National Rifle Association events and was endorsed by the group in May. The former president claimed that Biden “has a 40-year history of trying to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.” His campaign and the Republican National Committee also announced the creation of a Gun Owners for Trump coalition that includes gun rights activists and those who work in the gun industry.

Biden created the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House and issued new rules that require tens of thousands of additional gun dealers across the United States to conduct background checks on buyers at gun shows or other locations outside of physical stores. . He also pushed for safer gun storage.

Biden’s campaign believes gun control is a motivating issue for voters, particularly for college-educated suburban women, who could be decisive in several key battlegrounds this fall. Biden’s campaign and its allies released clips of Trump saying, “We have to get over this” after an Iowa school shooting in January, then telling NRA members in May that he “doesn’t did nothing” on guns during his presidency.

About 7 in 10 college-educated suburban women who voted in the 2022 midterm elections supported stricter gun control laws, although fewer than 1 in 10 named it as the biggest problem facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, a large survey of voters. .

Violent crime declined in 2023, reversing a spike seen during the coronavirus pandemic, but guns are the leading cause of death among children in the United States, according to a study by the American Academy of Sciences. Pediatrics. So far this year, 110 children under the age of 11 have died from gunshot wounds, and 566 between the ages of 12 and 17 have died. The number of children and adolescents killed by firearms in the United States increased by 50% between 2019 and 2021, according to the Pew Research Center.

And there have been 12 gun massacres in 2024, according to data collected by the AP. A massacre is defined as an attack in which four or more people die, not including the perpetrator, within a 24-hour period. The U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday that gun violence is a public health crisis, driven by the nation’s growing number of gun-related injuries and deaths.

Efforts to control guns are often obstructed by the courts. Last year, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court expanded gun rights and changed how courts are supposed to evaluate gun restrictions. He recently reversed a Trump-era ban on Bump Stocks, the fast-moving gun accessories used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

But late last week, the court upheld a gun control law intended to protect victims of domestic violence. The case has been closely watched because it could impact cases in which other gun ownership laws have been called into question, including the prosecution of Hunter Biden. The president’s son was convicted of lying on a gun purchase form while he was a drug addict, and his lawyers have indicated they will appeal.

President Biden signed the gun safety legislation on June 25, 2022, a bipartisan compromise forged following a series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.

Federal cases prosecuted under the new law include one defendant sentenced to 23 years in prison for gun trafficking in gang-related shootings and another to two years for running an illegal drug trafficking business. weapons.

In March, five men were arrested in Texas for trafficking military-grade weapons destined for a drug cartel in Mexico. The charges include gun trafficking and straw purchases, in which a firearm is purchased by one person on behalf of another who is legally unable to make the purchase. Hundreds of illegal guns have been taken off the streets.

The Biden administration also funded nearly 80 organizations nationwide using $250 million from legislation and other appropriations to expand community violence response initiatives, according to the implementation report .