WASHINGTON, DC – Calling for stronger oversight and urgent action to close gaping loopholes in federal gun laws, U.S. Senator Jack Reed, the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), is calling on Congress to take concrete steps to prevent criminals from obtaining guns. 

The Pentagon and U.S. Air Force have already begun internal reviews to determine why and how Air Force security officials neglected to enter the Texas killer's court-martial convictions into a federal gun control database.  The failure by the Air Force likely allowed the shooter to purchase the firearms he used in the killings at a sporting goods store.

Reed and SASC Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) have called for Congressional oversight of the Air Force data and reporting gap, with Reed stating: “The failure to include this individual in the National Criminal Information Center database resulted in an unspeakable tragedy and we must do everything we can to make sure it never happens again.  The Air Force and DoD are in the midst of an internal review, but there needs to be an independent investigation into this issue by Congress and the Department of Justice.  We also need to look at how the Army and Navy are handling these issues.  And if there are systemic problems, the U.S. Department of Defense must be held accountable.”

Reed noted the problem goes beyond the Pentagon, because even if the Air Force had properly shared their information in a timely manner, it would have only scuttled the purchase of the assault rifle used in the massacre at a licensed dealer, like a sporting goods store.  But loopholes in federal gun laws would have allowed the shooter to purchase the same weapon without a background check if he went to a gun show and bought it from an unlicensed dealer. 

Reed joined Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in introducing the Background Check Expansion Act (S. 2009) to expand federal background checks to the sale or transfer of all firearms by private sellers, with certain reasonable exceptions. Under current law, unlicensed or private sellers are not required to conduct a background check prior to transferring a firearm.  The Background Check Expansion Act would extend to all unlicensed sellers, whether they do business online, at gun shows, or out of their home. Private sellers would need to visit a licensed firearms dealer to run the necessary background check before any gun sale is finalized.  Exceptions to the Background Check Expansion Act include transfers between law enforcement officers; temporarily loaning firearms for hunting and sporting events; providing firearms as gifts to immediate family members; transferring a firearm as part of an inheritance; or temporarily transferring a firearm for immediate self-defense.

“As someone who served in the Army, I have great respect for firearms and responsible gun ownership.  The law needs to keep pace with technology and the Internet has exponentially increased illegal buyers’ ability to find someone to sell them a gun without a background check.  The Background Check Expansion Act is a responsible and common sense approach to preventing firearms from winding up in the hands of criminals and straw purchasers,” said Senator Reed, who noted that according to the Giffords Law Center, a New York City undercover investigation known as “Point, Click, Fire: An Investigation of Illegal, Online Gun Sales” found that “62% of private online firearm sellers agreed to sell a firearm to a buyer even after the buyer had told the seller that he or she probably could not pass a background check.”

The Giffords Law Center also notes that “nine states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington) and DC require universal background checks at the point of sale for all transfers of all classes of firearms, including purchases from unlicensed sellers.  Maryland and Pennsylvania do the same for handgun purchases only.”

Another gun-related loophole that Reed is seeking to close involves the fact that the federal gun ban only applies when the abuser and victim are married, cohabitating, or had a child together.  Reed is teaming up with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and extend the domestic violence ban to include dating partners.  This week they introduced the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act (S. 1539) to protect victims of domestic violence and stalking from gun violence by (1) adding individuals convicted of stalking misdemeanors to the list of prohibited persons who cannot purchase or possess firearms, and (2) expanding the definition of “intimate partners” to include dating partners, so that abusers would not be legally able to obtain a firearm regardless of whether they lived with their partner or had a child together.

“Whether they are dating, engaged, or married, if a violent abuser is convicted or court martialed for beating or stalking their significant other, they should be treated as a domestic abuser and be prevented from buying a gun,” said Reed, who cited a recent report by Vox, which stated:

“Several perpetrators of previous mass shootings were accused or convicted of domestic violence in the past: Omar Mateen, who carried out the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in 2016; Robert Lewis Dear, the alleged 2015 Planned Parenthood shooter; John Houser, who killed two and injured nine in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 2014; and James Huberty, who killed 21 people at a California McDonald’s in 1984.  This all points to a disturbing fact: There is a very real connection between past domestic violence and a propensity to future violence, including mass shootings. Policymakers know this, but the steps that they’ve taken to actually do something about it have so far fallen far short of what’s necessary — as we saw in Sutherland Springs on Sunday.”

“There are several steps Congress should take, not just with respect to the military, but with respect to strengthening background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals who should not have access to them,” concluded Reed.  “We need bipartisan cooperation to enact these common sense solutions.  Congress must summon the collective moral courage to do the right thing and take swift action.”