DOJ: New Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Laws Lead to More Arrests

June 11 (UPI) — The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has charged more than 500 defendants under new laws targeting gun traffickers and straw buyers.

The new criminal laws were created as part of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enacted by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in 2022.

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The department said the new laws have been used, for example, to charge five suspects in Texas for allegedly trafficking military-grade firearms with a Mexican drug cartel, suspects in New Mexico for illegally selling machine guns and other weapons, and suspects in Pennsylvania in connection with trafficking “ghost gun” kits.

“Criminals rely on illegal gun dealers and straw buyers to obtain the weapons they use to harm our communities,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “The Department of Justice is using the new tools given to us in the bipartisan Safer Communities Act to hold accountable those who fuel gun violence.”

The new laws ban straw purchases and gun trafficking and significantly increase penalties for these crimes, up to 15 years in prison.

The laws were passed because criminals who cannot legally own guns often look for straw buyers who have clean records and can easily buy guns from them.

In Tuesday's announcement, the Justice Department praised the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, saying it provides “powerful new tools to pursue gun traffickers and combat gun violence.” That helped get guns off the street, officials said.

Biden praised the 2022 law that included millions of dollars in funding for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs and an effort to include juvenile records in national snap background checks.