Rep. Maloney Proposes Gun Control Package

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) leads a hearing about CCP virus preparedness and response on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) presented five gun control bills on Wednesday.

One of the bills, according to The Hill, is the Handgun Trigger Act, which aims to encourage the development of “smart-gun technology,” which would only allow authorized gun owners to fire the weapon.

Another bill, the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act, seeks to make the purchasing of a gun for an unauthorized person a felony instead of a misdemeanor.

Maloney also proposed the Firearm Risks Protection Act, which requires gun owners to obtain liability insurance.

The other two bills that the New York Democrat is proposing are the Gunshow Loop Hole Act, which orders gun show sellers to perform background checks when selling a firearm, and the NICS Review Act, which aims at having the FBI hold on to records of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for three months in order to allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives evaluate the data.

In 2020, federal authorities carried out more than 39.5 million firearms background checks.

Chart showing firearms background checks in the U.S. (Data: FBI; Chart: Tom Ozimek/Epoch Times)

Maloney was optimistic her legislative package, which would need at a minimum 10 Republican votes, would pass the Senate.

“We’re particularly positioned well to pass these bills that have been around a long time, and that the American people ... overwhelmingly support,” she said. “So we have a very good opportunity.”

Maloney didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Andrea Schry (R) fills out the buyer part of legal forms to buy a handgun as shop worker Missy Morosky fills out the vendors parts after Dukes Sport Shop reopened in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2020. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo)

According to the NCIS, a record 4.3 million firearm background checks were initiated in January. That’s 300,000 more than in December 2020. Three of the top 10 highest weeks are from this month alone.

“That’s undoubtedly connected to President Joe Biden’s plans to attack the firearm industry by undoing and rewriting regulations and executive actions to target the firearm industry,” Mark Olivia, the director of public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said in a statement.

“These are jaw-dropping figures to start the New Year. Americans are claiming their Second Amendment rights to provide for their own safety in record numbers,” Olivia said. “The 79 percent year-over-year increase, however, was NOT unprecedented—an even higher increase, of just over 100 percent, was experienced in January 2013, the month Mr. Obama’s second presidential term began.”