Mike Levin: “late last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its annual report on Law Enforcement Officers Killed and…”

“late last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its annual report on Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted in 2001. According to the report, there were 136 law enforcement officers killed in 30 States. The tragic events of September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of 72 officers. Excluding these 72 lives, the number of officers killed in 2001 increased over 37 percent, from 51 officer fatalities in 2000 to 70 in 2001. A closer examination of data shows that firearms were used in 61 of the officer murders, and of those, handguns were responsible for 46. The handgun of choice was the 9 millimeter. In my home State of Michigan, Clinton Township, the city of Detroit, and the Federal Protective Service in Detroit each lost an officer in 2001. One of these officers worked in the building in which my Detroit office is located. In 1994, the Brady law established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS. The creation of this check system allows federally licensed gun sellers to quickly determine whether an individual is eligible to purchase a firearm. Since its inception, NICS checks have prevented more than 156,000 felons, fugitives, and others not eligible from purchasing a firearm without infringing upon any law- abiding individual's ability to buy a firearm. However, a loophole in the law allows unlicensed private gun sellers to sell guns without conducting a NICS background check.”