Justice Department rolls out plan to halt gun violence
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Attorney General William Barr announced a new initiative Wednesday that would better enforce the U.S. gun background check system, coordinate state and federal gun cases and ensure prosecutors quickly update databases to show when a defendant can’t possess a firearm because of mental health issues.
The push, known as Project Guardian, was unveiled at a news conference in Memphis, Tenn., alongside officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, on the same day public impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump began in Washington.
As part of the program, U.S. prosecutors will coordinate with state and local law enforcement officials to consider potential federal charges when a suspect is arrested for weapons possession, is believed to have used a gun to commit a violent crime or drug-trafficking offense or is suspected of being a violent gang member.
“Gun crime remains a pervasive problem in too many communities across America,” Barr said in a statement.
The initiative requires agents in charge of ATF offices across the country to either create new guidelines or review the protocols already in place to bring federal charges against people who lie in order to obtain a gun from a firearms dealer. Prosecutors will particularly focus on offenders who have violent backgrounds, are gang members or who have faced domestic violence charges.
U.S. attorney’s offices would also be required to quickly input information about people who can’t own guns for mental health reason into federal databases. T
The federal government has come under scrutiny in recent years for failing to prevent some mass shooters from buying guns because of lapses in the background check system. In 2018, there were more than 26 million background checks conducted and fewer than 100,000 people failed.
A man who killed nine black parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in June 2015, was able to buy his gun even though he has admitted to possessing drugs. A gunman who killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs,Texas, was able to pass a background check because the Air Force had failed to report his criminal history to the FBI, which maintains the background check database.
A gunman who went on a rampage in Odessa in September, killing seven people, illustrated that even those who are barred from owning guns can skirt the law. That Texas gunman had obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that blocked him from getting a gun in 2014 due to a “mental health issue,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press at the time.
Barr said background checks would be enforced “with a vengeance.”