Statement From Mayors Against Illegal Guns On The Gun-Related Provisions In The FY2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill

NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released the following statement from Chairman John Feinblatt on the FY2014 Omnibus Appropriations bill introduced yesterday:

"Time and time again we have called on Congress to give law enforcement the funding they need to enforce our existing gun laws, to increase funding to close the dangerous gaps in our background check system and to improve research on how we can prevent gun violence – and we were pleased to see that the omnibus funding bill includes increased funding for all of these efforts. Just as importantly, the dangerous policy riders that have been proposed in recent years – including one that would have closed down the highly successful ATF program that prevents gun trafficking by requiring reporting of multiple long gun sales by gun dealers along our southwest border – were not included in this year's bill.  We're happy to see that Congress recognizes the importance of fully funding these important parts of preventing gun violence in America and we look forward to seeing the bill's swift passage."

Mayors Against Illegal Guns has previously called attention to the millions of mental health records that are missing from the background check system that allow prohibited purchasers to pass checks and buy guns.  An online map with the latest available FBI data on states' mental health records reporting is available here and a 50-state analysis on why states have difficulty submitting relevant records is available here.  Last year the coalition also released "Access Denied" a report on how the gun lobby has, with the cooperation of Congress, suppressed data and research on gun violence, making it difficult to study the causes of gun violence and to craft evidence-based policies that will reduce American's gun murder rate. 

Below is a summary of the gun violence prevention provisions in the FY 2014 Omnibus Appropriations bill:

• The bill appropriates $58.5M in grant funding for states to upgrade their criminal and mental health record reporting to the NICS background check system, an increase of $40.5M from the FY2013 level.
• The bill funds ATF salaries and expenses at $1.179B.  The total ATF appropriations are up $108M from the FY2013 sequester level. ATF will have an additional $70 million to be used for enforcement, tracing of crime guns, and cracking down on traffickers.
• The bill provides the FBI with $128 million to operate and improve the NICS system—a major increase of $60M.
• The bill provides the Centers for Disease Control with $11.2M in funding for the National Violent Death Reporting System, more than three times the amount appropriated in FY2013.
• The bill includes $8.5M to fund programs that tackle gun crime and gang violence.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its creation in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors of major American cities to more than 1.5 million grassroots supporters – making us the largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country.  The bipartisan coalition, founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, has united mayors, gun violence survivors and everyday Americans around these common goals: protecting communities by holding gun offenders accountable; demanding access to crime gun trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat gun trafficking; and working with legislators to fix weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to get guns.  The group recently joined forces with Moms Demand Action, the leading grassroots movement of American mothers working to prevent gun violence. Learn more at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org or on Twitter @DemandAction

CONTACT
Erika Soto Lamb: erika@maig.org or 646-580-5281

SOURCE Mayors Against Illegal Guns