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The November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, TX, renewed interest in
terrorist watchlist screening and Brady background checks for
firearms through the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS). Pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention
Act (P.L. 103-159), in November 1998 the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) activated NICS for the purposes of determining
an individual's firearms transfer and possession eligibility
whenever a private person seeks to acquire a firearm from a
federally licensed gun dealer. Prior to February 2004, however, the
FBI did not conduct terrorist watchlist queries as part of the
Brady background checks because being a known or suspected
terrorist was not a disqualifying factor for firearms transfer and
possession eligibility; nor is it today under current law.
Congress has debated the efficacy and constitutionality of federal
regulation of firearms and ammunition, with strong advocates
arguing for and against greater gun control. Since March 2011, much
of the gun control debate in the 112th Congress has swirled around
allegations that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) mishandled a
Phoenix, AZ-based gun trafficking investigation known as "Operation
Fast and Furious." In the Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L. 112-55), Congress included a
provision that reflects a Senate-adopted amendment that forbids the
expenditure of any funding provided under it to be used by a
federal law enforcement officer to transfer an operable firearm to
a person known or suspected to be connected with a drug cartel
without that firearm being continuously monitored or controlled.
The act, however, does not include language adopted during House
full committee markup to prohibit ATF from collecting multiple long
gun sales reports in Southwest border states. Meanwhile, Congress
continues to consider the implications of Operation Fast and
Furious and several gun control issues. On May 10, 2012, the House
passed a measure (H.R. 5326) that would fund ATF for FY2013. On
April 19, 2012, the Senate Committee on Appropriations also
reported a bill (S. 2323) that would fund ATF for FY2013. Both
bills include several gun control-related provisions. On April 17,
2012, the House passed the Sportsmen's Heritage Act of 2012 (H.R.
4089), a bill that would prohibit any federal agency from banning
recreational shooting on federally managed public lands. On
November 16, 2011, the House passed a bill (H.R. 822) that would
establish a greater degree of reciprocity between states that issue
concealed carry permits for handguns to civilians than currently
exists under state law. On October 11, 2011, the House passed a
Veterans' Benefits Act (H.R. 2349) that would prohibit the
Department of Veterans Affairs from determining a beneficiary to be
mentally incompetent for the purposes of gun control, unless such a
determination were made by a judge, magistrate, or other judicial
authority based upon a finding that the beneficiary posed a danger
to himself or others. In May 2011, firearms-related amendments to
bills reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act were considered (H.R. 1800,
S. 1038, and S. 990), but they were not passed. The tragic
shootings in Tucson, AZ, on January 8, 2011, in which 6 people were
killed and 13 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords,
have also generated attention. Several Members introduced proposals
that arguably address issues related to the shooter's mental
illness and drug use (see S. 436/H.R. 1781) and his use of large
capacity ammunition feeding devices (LCAFDs) (see H.R. 308 and S.
32), as well as a proposal to ban firearms within the proximity of
certain high-level federal officials (see H.R. 367 and H.R. 496).
This report concludes with discussion of other salient and
recurring gun control issues that have generated past congressional
interest. Those issues include (1) screening firearms background
check applicants against terrorist watch lists, (2) reforming the
regulation of federally licensed gun dealers, (3) requiring
background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows, (4)
more-strictly regulating certain firearms previously defined in
statute as "semiautomatic assault weapons," and (5) banning or
requiring the registration of certain long-range .50 caliber
rifles, which are commonly referred to as "sniper" rifles. To set
these and other emerging issues in context, this report provides
basic firearms-related statistics, an overview of federal firearms
law, and a summary of legislative action in the 111th and 112th
Congresses.
Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process
that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular,
supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget
reconciliation bills. The process begins with the President's
budget request and is bounded by the rules of the House and Senate,
the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as
amended), the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and current program
authorisations. This book is a guide to the regular appropriations
bills that Congress considers each year. It is designed to
supplement the information provided by the House Committee on
Appropriations and Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch of the
Senate Committee on Appropriations. It summarises the current
legislative status of the bill, its scope, major issues, funding
levels, and related legislative activity.
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