In the 113 th Congress, Members of Congress introduced a wide range of longstanding gun control proposals. Some of these proposals gained renewed energy following the December 2012 Newtown, CT, tragedy, and several other "mass shooting" incidents in that year. The Senate debated these proposals in April 2013, but the leadership tabled that legislation rather than consider a wider range of firearms-related amendments. In the House of Representatives, Members introduced similar proposals, but those proposals did not see the same level of action. In both chambers, the Committees on Veterans' Affairs reported legislation that addressed the issue of veterans, mental incompetency, and firearms eligibility, but that legislation saw no further action. Congress extended a ban on undetectable firearms for 10 years in December 2013. In addition, the House passed several amendments to appropriations bills, which were supported by many gun rights advocates. Some, but not all, of these provisions were included in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 ( P.L. 113-235 ). On December 14, 2012, in Newtown, CT, a 20-year-old male entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot 20 first graders and 6 adult staff members to death. He also shot his mother to death. According to press accounts, the firearms he used in the shooting included a 5.56mm Bushmaster (M16-style) semiautomatic rifle, and two semiautomatic pistols, a 10mm Glock and 9mm Sig Sauer. These firearms were reportedly owned legally by his mother, and were registered under Connecticut state law. When first responders entered the building, the gunman, who reportedly suffered from profound mental incapacity, shot himself to death with the 10mm Glock pistol. According to a Connecticut State Medical Examiner, the shooter mostly used the Bushmaster rifle, reloading it with detachable 30-round magazines several times, to murder the children and staff at Sandy Hook. "Dozens and dozens" of spent 5.56mm cartridges were found at the crime scene, along with additional, unused magazines filled with ammunition. In the immediate aftermath of Newtown, on December 20, 2012, President Barack Obama established a Task Force on Gun Violence under the leadership of Vice President Joseph R. Biden. On January 16, 2013, the White House released a document entitled: Now I s the Time: The President's Plan to Protect our Children and O ur Communities by Reducing Gun Violence . This plan included 18 legislative proposals and 23 executive actions. Several of those legislative proposals included the following: require background checks for private firearms transfers at gun shows and any other venue, or "universal background checks"; strengthen and reinstate a ban of semiautomatic assault weapons and magazines of over 10 rounds (cartridges); increase penalties for gun trafficking; reexamine and strengthen restrictions on armor piercing ammunition; Senate confirmation of Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and repeal an ATF appropriations rider and strengthen that agency's authority to deny importation permits for 50-year-old military surplus firearms that fall under the regulatory definition of "curio or relic." Other legislative proposals primarily consisted of requests for additional funding to maintain 15,000 police officers on the streets of the United States, otherwise known as the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) program ($4 billion); train state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers in responding to shootings ($14 million); allow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct additional research on the possible nexus between video games, media images, and violence ($10 million); expand the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) from 18 to all 50 states; improve incentives to encourage states to provide the FBI with prohibiting records on individuals who fall under the definition of "mental defective" ($50 million); and improve school security ($230 million). The Administration's 23 executive actions, under the plan, range from directing the Attorney General to work with U.S. Attorneys to ensure that firearms-related criminal cases are prosecuted to directing the CDC to research the causes and prevention of gun violence. The Administration periodically updated a report chronicling its progress in implementing these executive actions. This report does not focus on the President's plan in its entirety. Rather, this report provides an overview of federal firearms laws as a basis for examining the three most salient legislative proposals included in the President's plan. Those proposals would have (1) required background checks for intrastate firearms transfers between unlicensed persons at gun shows and nearly any other venue, otherwise known as the "universal background checks" proposal; (2) increased penalties for gun trafficking; and (3) reinstated and strengthened an expired federal ban on detachable ammunition magazines of over 10-round capacity and certain "military style" firearms commonly described as "semiautomatic assault weapons," which are designed to accept such magazines. This report also briefly examines counter-proposals designed to increase both open and concealed firearms carrying privileges under certain circumstances. In response to the Newtown mass shooting, the Senate considered several legislative proposals supported by the Obama Administration that would have required universal background checks for firearms transfers, increased criminal gun trafficking penalties, and restricted certain "military style" firearms. The Senate debated, but did not pass, this legislation in April 2013. The House did not act upon similar legislation. In alignment with the President's plan, in the Spring 2013, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary approved the following four gun control-related bills: Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013 ( S. 54 ), on March 7, 2013, to establish standalone straw purchasing and gun trafficking prohibitions and increase related penalties; Fix Gun Checks Act of 2013 ( S. 374 ), on March 11, to require background checks for private firearms transfers, and encourage states to provide the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with greater access to records on prohibited persons for background check purposes; and to authorize additional appropriations of $100 million annually (FY2014-FY2018) for funding grants to states to improve access to firearms-related prohibiting records—especially for persons adjudicated "mentally defective" and persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence; School Safety Enhancements Act of 2013 ( S. 146 ), on March 11, to authorize annual appropriations of up to $40 million for the next 10 years for the Secure Our Schools grant program under the Department of Justice (DOJ) Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS); and Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 ( S. 150 ), on March 14, to ban permanently the further production or importation of certain semiautomatic firearms, as well as high-capacity magazines. The votes on universal background checks and assault weapons ( S. 374 and S. 150 ) split down party lines (10-8). Senator Charles E. Grassley, the committee's ranking minority Member, voted for the gun trafficking bill ( S. 54 ), making the vote on that measure 11-7. The school safety bill ( S. 146 ) was approved by a vote of 14-4. From April 16-18, 2013, the Senate considered the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 ( S. 649 ). As introduced, this bill included the language of S. 54 , S. 374 , and S. 146 , but it did not include S. 150 . Nevertheless, Senator Dianne Feinstein offered the language of S. 150 , the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, as an amendment to S. 649 . In total, the Senate voted on nine amendments that addressed a wide array of gun control issues. By unanimous consent, the Senate agreed that adoption of these amendments would require a 60-vote threshold. All but two of these amendments were defeated. Senators Joe Man chin and Patrick Toomey offered an amendment—the Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013 ( S.Amdt. 715 )—that would have required background checks for intrastate (same state) firearms transfers between unlicensed persons, if the firearms were offered for sale or trade in some form of public fora (from classified ads to Internet sites, or at gun shows). Among other provisions, the amendment included several related to improving firearms-related background checks and veterans' firearms eligibility and mental incompetency. The amendment was rejected by a yea-nay vote: 54-46 (roll call vote no. 97). Senator Charles Grassley offered a "GOP substitute" amendment—the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act of 2013 ( S.Amdt. 725 )—that would have established standalone gun trafficking and straw purchasing offenses. Like the Manchin-Toomey amendment, the GOP substitute also included several provisions to improve background checks and addressed veterans' firearms eligibility and mental incompetency. Furthermore, it would have provided a statutory definition for the term "adjudicated mentally incompetent or committed to a psychiatric hospital." The amendment was rejected by a yea-nay vote: 52-48 (roll call vote no. 98). Senator Patrick Leahy offered an amendment—the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013 ( S.Amdt. 713 )—that would have established standalone gun trafficking and straw purchasing provisions, which are very similar to those in S. 54 , as reported. Nevertheless, the amendment was rejected by a yea-nay vote: 58-42 (roll call vote no. 99). Senator John Cornyn offered an amendment ( S.Amdt. 719 ) that would have required interstate firearms concealed carry reciprocity, that is, it would have mandated that states that issued such permits recognize the validity of permits issued by other states. The amendment was rejected by a yea-nay vote: 57-43 (roll call vote no. 100).