(Washington, D.C.)–To ensure that licensed gun dealers are complying with the law and to prevent further violations by delinquent dealers, Congressman Jim Langevin has re-introduced the Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act, which would increase the number of annual inspections for licensed dealers and raise the maximum criminal penalty for licensees who knowingly and willfully violate the law by committing serious record-keeping offenses. Today, the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation released a study showing that 120 gun dealers located in 22 states supplied nearly 15% of guns recovered in crime between 1996 and 2000. This report verifies earlier statistics provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Langevin’s legislation, developed with the input of ATF, would improve compliance rates by gun dealers through increased inspections and higher accountability. “We need to ensure that law enforcement has the strongest possible tools to prevent unlawful firearms purchases,” said Congressman Langevin. “By conducting crime gun traces, the ATF can analyze why such a large number of firearms from this small proportion of dealers are used illegally and develop innovative strategies to address this problem. The accuracy of a dealer’s inventory is critical to the ATF’s ability to trace crime guns. However, since 1986, criminal penalties for most dealer record-keeping violations have been reduced from felonies to misdemeanors." The Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act would increase the permitted number of ATF inspections of firearms dealers from one to three per year; raise the maximum criminal penalty from 5 to 10 years for dealers who knowingly violate the law by committing serious record-keeping offenses that can hinder tracing crime guns; and authorize the ATF to suspend a firearms license after notice and the opportunity for a hearing for violations of the Gun Control Act of 1968. Through traces of guns used in crimes, ATF found that a large number of firearms from a small proportion of dealers are used illegally and has been working to develop investigative strategies to address this growing problem. Langevin, a victim of an accidental shooting that left him a C-5/6 quadriplegic, has also introduced the Accidental Shooting Prevention Act. This legislation requires gun manufacturers to include chamber load indicators and magazine disconnect mechanisms on all firearms with removable magazines manufactured after 2005. A chamber load indicator alerts a gun handler when a bullet is in the chamber, while a magazine-disconnect mechanism prevents a gun from being fired when its ammunition magazine is removed, even if there is a round in the chamber. At the age of sixteen, Congressman Langevin was left paralyzed when a police officer’s gun accidentally discharged and severed his spine. Had the gun involved in Langevin’s accident been equipped with a chamber load indicator, the officer would have known the firearm was loaded and the accident could have been avoided. | 
