Concerned that security flaws are contributing to increased gun crime, five Democratic U.S. senators have ordered 22 trucking and logistics companies, as well as the country’s six Class 1 railroads, to provide data on gun shipment.
In a letter sent Thursday to freight and parcel carriers, including J.B. Hunt, U.S. Xpress, Landstar System, and UPS, lawmakers led by Ed Markey, D-Mass., stated that gun sales and shipments have skyrocketed since the outbreak began due to exemptions granted to firearm manufacturers and dealers, also known as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs).
“Gun purchases have soared in the last two years, in part because the Trump administration determined that FFLs were important companies and hence immune from certain federal limitations,” they said.
“Because of this move, dealers were able to sell more firearms than ever before.” To accommodate this demand, firearm manufacturers and dealers moved guns over state lines in large numbers, creating additional chances for criminals to exploit the distribution process’s low regulation and security safeguards.
“For these reasons, we are worried that [carriers] are not taking the required precautions to protect firearm shipments and contribute to tackling the country’s gun violence epidemic.”
The senators note that just days after two horrific mass shootings in Buffalo, Fresh York, and Laguna Woods, California, new federal data released this week shows that gun production in the United States has more than tripled since 2000.
They also noted a recent Los Angeles Times story that identified criminal gangs selling guns linked to a stolen shipment of 36 handguns, as well as a cargo of 46 shotguns linked to a theft at a Southern California railyard.
“Although government statistics on stolen firearms are sparse,” they said, “these accounts suggest that firearm shipments are a particularly weak link in a safe firearm supply chain.”
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., together with Markey, want the carriers to produce information on the following problems by June 9:
A description of each company’s policies and processes for transporting and delivering packages containing firearms.
The number of packages containing firearms shipped by each company between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2021.
Any additional security precautions are taken by each organization when delivering items containing firearms to ensure safe delivery to the designated recipients.
The kinds of records that each company keeps on lost or stolen shipments including deliveries containing firearms.
The following companies received the letter:
Trucking and logistics
- Crete Carrier
- Daseke
- J.B. Hunt
- Knight-Swift Transportation
- Prime
- Schneider National
- Southeastern Freight Lines
- TFI International
- U.S. Xpress
- FedEx
- XPO Logistics
- ABF Freight System
- Yellow Corp.
- Estes Express Lines
- Saia
- R+L Carriers
- Old Dominion
- UPS
- Werner Enterprises
- U.S. Postal Service
- CRST International
- Landstar System
Railroads
- BNSF
- Canadian National
- Canadian Pacific
- CSX
- Union Pacific
- Norfolk Southern
