U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D- N.Y.) is hoping to stop illegal gun trafficking, in an attempt to prevent gun violence. She has introduced bipartisan legislation that would make gun trafficking a federal crime and give law enforcement more power to investigate and prosecute gun traffickers and their entire criminal network.
“We’re talking about the easy access that a criminal has who can’t get a weapon if they go into a regular licensed gun dealer,” said Gillibrand.
Gillibrand believes this will go a long way towards getting guns off the streets, noting that nine out of 10 guns used in crimes were bought illegally, and by the person who didn’t commit the crime.
“They can have someone else buy it for them," she said. "They can buy it out of the back of a truck. And that’s a real problem we have to deal with.”
Firearms trafficking continues to bring illegal guns into central New York. In 2013 the federal government recovered 317 guns in Syracuse. The legislation targets the so called “iron pipeline,” which is the flow of illegal guns into New York from other states.
This isn’t the first time Gillibrand introduced a bipartisan bill centered around gun control. The 2013 bill only received 58 votes.
“There were several votes out there, that I think if we worked longer and harder on the language, we could have earned them as well,” said Gillibrand. “This is a revised bill. And I think we can go out and get the 60 votes we need to overcome a filibuster on this issue.”
