Garden State Times

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) joined today with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Everytown for Gun Safety, the Newark Community Street Team, police officials, and violence intervention volunteers at a press conference to urge the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to fully implement federal rules outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to help close the gun seller background check loophole. The BSCA—the first significant federal gun safety legislation in 30 years—was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022.

Today, the Senator led a bicameral letter calling on the ATF to implement federal rules required by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to help close the gun seller background check loophole.

The press conference comes as the somber one-year anniversary approaches for the Buffalo supermarket shooting that killed 10 people on May 14, 2022 and the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 Texas fourth graders and two teachers on May 24, 2022, and four days after an 8-year-old boy and an adult man were fatally shot in Newark.

“Last June, we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, creating federal penalties for straw purchasing and firearms trafficking, enhanced background checks for purchasers under 21 years of age, and barred individuals convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a gun,” said Sen. Menendez. “This landmark legislation also unlocked more than $250 million for community violence intervention programs well as funding for mental health, school safety and more; however, there is still more work to do and I for one won’t stop fighting until Congress passes more comprehensive gun safety reforms.”

During the press conference, the Senator highlighted the $250 million in grant funding for violence intervention work unlocked by the landmark BSCA passed last June. This year’s deadline for the grant application is May 25, 2023. It also created funding for school safety and mental health resources.

“In Newark, we are applying the expertise of a comprehensive public safety ecosystem that addresses the wide-ranging causes and conditions of violence before they have a chance to erupt into events that further traumatize our community. This important work makes inroads into our residents’ wellbeing and has brought our homicide rate to a 60-year low,” said Mayor Baraka. “The common denominator in all gun violence is the presence of a gun.  This is why I support the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that requires common sense background checks and infuse our nation’s gun legislation with basic sanity. I am proud to stand with Senator Menendez in solidarity to call on the ATF to implement rules that will close the background check loophole and in gratitude for his continued work on gun violence prevention."

“The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is already saving lives in New Jersey and across the country,” said Chelsea Parsons, Director of Implementation at Everytown for Gun Safety. “We are proud to stand with leaders like Senator Menendez and Mayor Baraka to ensure that this historic law is fully and completely implemented to save as many lives as possible.”

“The investment of this grant puts a spotlight on decades old strategies that have been utilized by Community Based Violence Intervention Agencies to keep black and brown communities safe, often overshadowed by organizations and institutions that are well funded,” said Daamin Durden, Executive Director of the Newark Community Street Team. “The Newark Community Street Team and our National Sister organization (the Community Based Public Safety Collective) have proven that when you intentionally put safety in the hands of the people, we see safer communities.”

“It is heartbreakingly evident that more needs to be done to curb gun violence in this country,” said NJ Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex). “The least we can do is fully implement the protections signed into law almost a year ago. Thank you, Senator Menendez, for bringing this to light. It is critical that the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives fully implement the federal rules outlined in the Safer Communities Act as soon as possible to help close the gun seller background check loophole.”

Sen. Menendez is a long-time champion for gun violence prevention and has taken numerous measures over his tenure to help address the epidemic of gun violence, including supporting the original Assault Weapons Ban in 1994 and authoring legislation to ban high-capacity magazines designed for high capacity killing.

This year, Sen. Menendez joined several of his colleagues in forming the first Senate Gun Violence Prevention Caucus to better coordinate common-sense solutions to battle the epidemic of gun violence in America. In February, the senator led Senate colleagues in the reintroduction of the Keep Americans Safe Act, which would ban the importation, sale, manufacturing, transfer, or possession of high-capacity magazines. He also reintroduced the Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act, which would require the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to collect, preserve, and disclose gun records and gun tracing data. Sen. Menendez also joined several of his colleagues this year in reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons, close the Charleston Loophole, and require gun owners secure their firearms in a secure gun storage.

In 2022, Sen. Menendez reintroduced the Federal Firearm Licensing Act that would require individuals to obtain a firearm license from the Department of Justice (DOJ) before purchasing or receiving a firearm. He also urged the Biden Administration to do more to address the ghost gun loophole based on legislation he has authored, which would prohibit the online distribution of blueprints and instructions that allow for the 3D printing of firearms. Also in 2021, Sen. Menendez, alongside 16 Senate Democrats and 99 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, urged the U.S. Department of Education in a letter to raise awareness about securely storing guns safely and away from kids following the tragic shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan.

In 2020, the Senator introduced the Untraceable Firearms Act to ban “ghost” guns, and in the same year introduced the Stop Online Fraudulent Sales of Firearms Act that would to prevent gun sellers from circumventing technology companies’ terms of service by making it illegal to fraudulently sell firearms and ammunition online.

Original source can be found here.