[20210426]IN11660_枪支贩运和白宫指导的DOJ-ATF报告.pdf

CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Gun Trafficking and White House-Directed DOJ-ATF Report April 26, 2021 On April 7, 2021, the White House announced that it has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an annual report on firearms trafficking, similar to a report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) previously released in 2000. That report, Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers, was based on a survey of 1,530 criminal investigations conducted by ATF from July 1996 to December 1998. It followed a 1999 report on ATFs Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII), which was based on firearms trace data. Both prior reports explored questions regarding the nature of gun trafficking in the United States and shed light on the unlawful flow of firearms from jurisdictions with less restrictive firearms laws to jurisdictions with more restrictive firearms laws. Some of ATFs assertions about high-volume, organized gun trafficking proved debatable and the use of trace data in civil lawsuits controversial. Congress responded by limiting the release of unfiltered trace data and p