U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants federal prosecutors to "swiftly and aggressively" charge people who lie while trying to purchase a gun.
It's against the law to lie on a federal background check form, but Justice Department officials told The Washington Post that people who do so are rarely arrested or charged.
The so-called "lie and try" prosecutions are just one component of the Justice Department's plan to improve school safety following the shooting in Parkland, Florida, last month.
Sessions also called for increasing the number of law enforcement officers at schools, and he wants to improve the federal background check system by fixing some of the communication gaps between federal, state and local agencies.
This action plan comes after the Justice Department submitted a regulation proposal Saturday that would ban the possession, sale and manufacturing of bump stocks — the device that allows a semi-automatic firearm to fire more like a fully automatic weapon.
