1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Prosecuting Gun Crimes Saves Lives Act . 2. Findings The Congress finds as follows: (1) Promoting public safety, addressing gun-based homicides, and enforcing Federal firearms laws are among the highest priorities of the Congress. (2) Point-of-sale background checks can reduce the risk of gun-based homicides by preventing criminals and prohibited persons from purchasing firearms while protecting access for law-abiding citizens. (3) Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, categories of persons who may pose a threat to public safety, including violent felons, fugitives from justice, and persons convicted of domestic violence crimes, are prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition. (4) Thousands of prohibited persons illegally attempt to purchase firearms every year. In 2017, the FBI’s NICS Section referred 112,090 denied transactions to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Of these NICS denials, only 12, or 0.09 percent, were prosecuted in 2017. (5) On March 12, 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo directing Department of Justice prosecutors to prioritize vigorous and appropriate prosecution of cases involving false statements on Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473. The memo stated that Criminals and other prohibited persons who attempt to thwart the background check process by lying on the required forms threaten to undermine this important crime prevention tool and that we must vigilantly protect the integrity of the background system through appropriate prosecution of those who attempt to circumvent the law . The Department of Justice’s efforts to reclaim the integrity of the background check system yielded a 23-percent increase in the number of defendants charged with unlawful possession of a firearm in the 3 months following issuance of the memo. (6) On November 13, 2019, Attorney General William Barr announced the launch of a new initiative, Project Guardian, to