By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday endorsed a bipartisan Senate gun-safety proposal as “meaningful progress” as he announced new gun-trafficking charges in an effort to crack down on the gun violence plaguing America.
“We do think that at least the framework that I read about this morning with respect to the bipartisan negotiations would be meaningful progress in that direction,” Garland said at a news conference.
Garland’s comments came one day after a bipartisan group of senators announced a gun safety bill designed to win approval by Republicans and Democrats alike.
President Joe Biden’s administration is facing mounting pressure to take action in the wake of last month’s mass-shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Garland said a Justice Department strike force focused on firearms trafficking had charged a Texas man for illegal purchases and re-sales of 92 guns, 16 of which were later recovered in connection with homicides, assaults and drug trafficking.
“We are cracking down on the criminal gun-trafficking pipelines that flood our communities with illegal guns,” Garland said.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Lisa Shumaker)