Padilla, Raskin Introduce Bicameral Bill to Cut Off Federal Contracts to Gun Dealers Whose Firearms Are Consistently Linked to Violent Crime
Legislation would bar government contracts with bad-apple dealers whose guns are overrepresented in violent crime data
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.-08), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bicameral bill to prevent the federal government from contracting with federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) that have a documented history of selling guns that are frequently used to commit violent crimes.
Existing federal law requires FFLs that have sold 25 or more guns over the course of a single year that are subsequently traced to violent crimes within three years of their sale to report additional information on their sales practices under ATF’s Demand 2 program to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act would leverage this ATF data to identify the small number of FFLs that are consistently and dramatically overrepresented in criminal activity and render them ineligible for federal contracts.
“Far too often, lucrative federal contracts are inexplicably awarded to firearm dealers who have been linked to dangerous crime,” said Senator Padilla. “The federal government should not be doing business with repeat offenders who are fueling our national gun violence epidemic. Our commonsense legislation aims to combat senseless and preventable gun violence by ensuring that gun dealers keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.”
“The federal government should not be rewarding gun dealers whose inventory keeps ending up at crime scenes,” said Ranking Member Raskin. “The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act prevents federal agencies from contracting with firearm dealers who have a documented history of selling guns that are used in violent crimes. I’m proud to team up with Senator Padilla on this bicameral, commonsense bill to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t supporting bad-apple gun dealers.”
“Year after year, a small percentage of firearms dealers are the source of the vast majority of guns quickly diverted to crimes, yet some are awarded federal contracts. The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act will ensure that dealers that supply large numbers of crime guns do not have the privilege of doing business with the federal government, and that only responsible actors in the gun industry receive coveted federal procurement contracts. Brady thanks Representative Raskin and Senator Padilla for introducing this important legislation and for their continued commitment to ending the American gun violence epidemic,” said Mark Collins, Director of Federal Policy for Brady.
The ATF established the Demand 2 Program over two decades ago to improve its clearance rate for tracing firearms used in crimes. Crime gun tracing, administered by the National Tracing Center, establishes the chain of custody of firearms recovered by law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations, from their importer or manufacturer to their first retail purchase at an FFL, creating critical investigative links between a suspect and a recovered firearm.
The Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act is endorsed by the following groups: Brady, Community Justice Action Fund, Everytown, GIFFORDS, Jewish Democratic Council of America, and the National Council of Jewish Women.
The bill is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Senator Padilla is a strong advocate for commonsense, lifesaving gun safety reforms. Earlier this year, Padilla co-led the bicameral reintroduction of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025, legislation to reinstate a nationwide ban on military-style assault weapons. He also led 18 Senators in introducing the Age 21 Act, legislation to raise the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21, the same age requirement that already applies to purchasing handguns from federally licensed dealers. In June 2022, Padilla voted to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety legislation in almost 30 years. In 2023, Padilla joined 27 of his Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Keep Americans Safe Act, renewing efforts to ban the importation, sale, manufacturing, transfer, or possession of gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Full text of the bill is available here.
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