The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Feds have charged more than 250 people under new gun trafficking law

Passed last year, authorities say the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is paying dividends in gun seizures, fighting gun crime

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December 4, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. EST
President Biden holds a ghost gun kit during an event about gun violence at the White House in April 2022. He announced a new firearm regulation aimed at reining in ghost guns, which are unregulated and difficult to trace. (Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post)
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Over the past 16 months, the Justice Department has aggressively deployed a new law targeting gun traffickers to charge more than 250 people, according to interviews with law enforcement, administration and congressional officials.

Through the end of October, the department has prosecuted 207 defendants with the gun trafficking provision of the law. Eighty were charged with violating the law’s provision against straw purchasers — people who buy guns on behalf of other people who typically are not legally allowed to own a weapon because of their criminal history or other reasons, federal officials said.