US attorney general calls Senate gun legislation ‘meaningful progress’

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland is joined by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham and Jeff Boshek, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Dallas Field Division, during a press conference announcing a significant firearms trafficking enforcement action and ongoing efforts to protect communities from violent crime and gun violence at the Department of Justice in Washington, U.S., June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

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.

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