WASHINGTON–Just two days after two students were killed in a school shooting in Santa Clarita, Calif., a bill has been introduced in Congress that would require banks and other financial institutions to work with the government to help identify and report suspicious or illegal financial activity related to firearms.
The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA).
“Banks, credit card companies, and retailers have unique insight into the behavior and purchasing patterns that can help identify and prevent mass shootings,” Wexton said in a statement. “We know that financial intelligence can be an effective tool to combat gun violence in the same way it is for money laundering, human smuggling, and fentanyl trafficking.”
According to Wexton, the bill, called the Gun Violence Prevention Through Financial Intelligence Act, would require FinCEN to work with financial organizations to develop a framework to identify suspicious firearms transactions. Language in the bill states that if FinCEN determines that banks do not have enough data to identify suspicious activity, it “must submit a report to Congress detailing the process and identifying barriers to data collection.”