In response to a number of high-profile incidents of gun violence, Maloney sponsored two bills to address the issue. The Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2013 would make gun trafficking a federal crime for the first time and substantially stiffen the penalties for "straw buyers" who knowingly help convicted felons, domestic abusers, the violently mentally ill and others, obtain guns. A second bill, reintroduced in 2014 and 2015, would require gun owners to maintain liability insurance, just as most car owners must do.