(WASHINGTON) — In advance of an oversight committee hearing with AR-15 manufacturers on their role in the gun violence epidemic on Wednesday, committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney sat down with ABC News to discuss the context.

One month after President Joe Biden signed bipartisan gun reform into law, targeted red flag laws and expanded background checks, House Democrats are working on additional gun reform legislation.

Maloney spoke with ABC News about new legislation that would target the sale of semiautomatic weapons, the chances of getting additional legislation passed through the Senate and her hopes for the Wednesday hearing.

GMA3: Congresswoman, thank you for being back on the program. So tell me, is this new legislation to ban semiautomatic weapons, is this meant to do what the initial bipartisan gun legislation did not do?

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY: Well, we need to continue building on the work of passing historic gun reform legislation. And my hearing this week should be a wakeup call to action for Congress to act to hold these gun manufacturers accountable for the deadly weapons that they’re manufacturing that are killing innocent Americans.

We expect to pass a bill banning assault weapons. We did this in 1994. It sunseted after ten years. But during that period, gun deaths went down. So, this is important legislation. Believe me, T.J., if guns made us safer, we’d be the safest nation on Earth. We are far from it. We’re the most dangerous.

GMA3: As again, that statistic we always hear we have more guns in this country than we actually do people in the country. But still, what chance does this legislation have? And do you have the votes right now, even in the House? Because even if it gets past the House, I think most would agree it has no chance in the Senate.

MALONEY: Well, we will get it through the House. I believe we have the votes in the House. The Senate is a challenge, but we need to take a vote and hold people accountable with the American public that has had it with these mass shootings in schools and in our synagogues and churches, our neighborhoods. It’s got to get these dangerous guns off the street. And the weapon of choice is the AR-15 assault weapon.

We are also passing legislation that will end the immunity that gun manufacturers have for manufacturing deadly weapons that are killing so many innocent people.

GMA3: Congresswoman, what do you think? You said you’re not sure if you have the votes yet. You think you’ll have them in the House. But even talking to Sen. Chris Murphy last week and I asked him, I said, where is the next step? What negotiations are going on for the possible next piece of gun legislation? And he just said, “hey, we just got this one done. Just let us– give us a minute to implement this one” and nothing else, really. Even for him who’s been so passionate on this issue, he thought we needed to just give it a beat. So why so quickly? You think there is momentum right now that needs to be taken advantage of?

MALONEY: After Buffalo and Uvalde, the innocent murders of so many schoolchildren, they are hold – we have more mass shootings in schools than any place in the world. More people die, roughly 40,000 a year from gun violence, and we need to take steps. We need to hold people accountable. And we need to continue putting a focus on it like you are today and passing legislation that will make it safer for our citizens.

Other countries don’t have this challenge. Only America. Usually they have a mass shooting and they pass gun safety laws and that’s it. But we have mass shooting after mass shooting. And we know what to do, unlike so many challenges where we don’t have the answer. We know gun safety laws are important and what they are and that we need to pass them. So we need to keep trying.

GMA3: And, Congresswoman, I know the hearing is tomorrow. You invited these gun manufacturers, the head of these companies to come. First question, how well-attended do you think it’s going to be? How many CEOs and gun manufacturers, the executives do you expect to have there? And what does it look like to hold a gun maker accountable for a gun? Yes, they make them, but then they don’t sell them or use them. So where do you see their accountability and where do they need to be doing better?

MALONEY: Well, I would say we have invited three manufacturers, CEOs, two have accepted. One is dodging us and not responding to our requests for documents. And we intend to hold them accountable eventually in some form.

But to your question, most industries have a responsibility for their products. We have liability on our cars. Every time there’s a car wreck, we study it. We should do the same thing with guns. We should have liability on guns. They’re far more dangerous than cars.

And then the drug industry, they keep a record of how much problems result from their drugs. We should be doing the same thing with guns. There are ways to hold them accountable. Stay tuned. You’ll hear more information from our hearing this weekend. And we are working on additional legislation that will be coming forward hopefully that will make America safer for our citizens.

GMA3: And can I ask, do you find something in their marketing, in something of the type of weapon they’re making? Would you like to see them cut back on how many of these weapons they make? I guess, what would you like to see them do?

MALONEY: Well, their marketing is horrendous. They are marketing to young people. They are having raffles. They have all kinds of ads to entice people to play on their emotions and their insecurities. Their marketing is absolutely horrendous. They need to be held accountable and they have not. It is an industry that is producing deadly weapons that are killing innocent people. And we need to take steps to hold them accountable.

I’ll have more information at the hearing. It’s embargoed now, but I always love talking to you, T.J., and we’ll have more information after the hearing. We have a report that will be coming out. And the information in it is at this point embargoed until the hearing tomorrow.

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(WASHINGTON) — A Senate investigation revealed evidence on Tuesday of widespread corruption and misconduct dating back years at a federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

At a hearing Tuesday morning, an investigatory panel led by Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff pressed outgoing Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Michael Carvajal on agency records that show staff at the Atlanta federal penitentiary “acted with impunity and even lacked regard for human life,” Ossoff said in his opening statement.

“The evidence the [subcommittee for investigations] has secured to date reveals stunning long-term failures of federal prison administration that likely contributed to loss of life; jeopardized the health and safety of inmates and staff; and undermined public safety and civil rights in the State of Georgia and the Southeast Region of the United States,” Ossoff said.

The prison was rife with contraband, including weapons and synthetic cannabis, and large amounts of confiscated drugs were never logged after they were discovered, according to Ossoff and the subcommittee’s review of internal BOP documents in addition to interviews with whistleblowers, federal judges and former senior agency leaders.

A lack of security checks also allowed inmates to pass contraband between cells and freely use narcotics, Ossoff said.

The findings documented by the panel — an investigatory arm of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — include allegations of poorly maintained and often dangerous conditions for inmates.

Between 2012 to 2020, a total of 12 inmates died by suicide which the committee linked to a lack of compliance by staff to prison procedures and “complacency, indifference, inattentiveness, and lack of compliance with BOP policies and procedures,” according to Ossoff.

Internal reports from 2017 and 2019, now revealed by the committee, found prison guard weapons were improperly stored and at times went missing.

Erika Ramirez, a whistleblower and former chief psychologist of the Atlanta facility, testified on Tuesday to a variety of unsafe and unsanitary conditions as well as a lack of control over contraband.

“The walls were infested with mold,” Ramirez said. “Whenever it rained, the sewer would break — would back up and overflow onto the recreation yard, sometimes leaving a foot of human waste behind. Security-wise, there was little to speak of. Given the volume and flagrancy of the contraband, it was obvious that cell searches were not being properly conducted, if at all.”

Ramirez testified that she documented her findings and reported them to upper management and, in some cases, to the BOP central office in Washington. Ramirez was subsequently, involuntarily transferred to a facility in Texas in what she described as retaliation for speaking out.

Former jail administrator Terri Whitehead also appeared at Tuesday’s hearing and said unsanitary conditions at the prison resulted in security lapses.

“For example, there was so many rats inside the facility, dining hall and food preparation areas that staff intentionally left doors open so the stray cats that hung around the prison could catch the rats,” Whitehead said. “It is never a good idea to leave prison doors open.”

After initially declining to testify, citing the end of his tenure next month, BOP Director Carvajal took questions before the panel to address the reported corruption and mismanagement at the penitentiary.

“I want to stress that what happened in Atlanta is unacceptable,” Carvajal said. “We recognize the gravity of the alleged misconduct at that facility, and in July of 2021, we determined that it was in the best interest of the institution to take significant action.”

BOP has since started replacing the entire management staff at the Atlanta prison, a process which Carvajal said was ongoing.

Asked about a federal judge’s letter detailing rats, roaches and emaciated detainees at the facility, Carvajal told the Senate panel he was not aware of the specific allegations but took responsibility for the agency overall. He repeatedly testified that the BOP is a “large, complex organization,” and he does not personally oversee day-to-day operations despite the unique nature of concerns in Atlanta.

“What does it mean to you to hear, as the director of Bureau of Prisons, a report from your own investigators that staff at this facility lack regard for human life?” Ossoff asked.

“It’s completely unacceptable, senator, that’s precisely why I took the actions that I did when I became aware of it,” Carvajal said.

But it remains unclear when and what Carvajal knew about missing prison guard weapons, life-threatening conditions and security lapses reported by internal BOP auditors. Carvajal testified that he wasn’t aware of internal reports about unqualified staff in armed positions until the middle of last year.

“We have a lot going on in a very large, complex organization,” he insisted. “I assure you that if I was aware, as with anything, I would have corrected or taken action.”

At one point Ossoff held up a copy of one of the internal reports, noting that Carvajal was personally copied on the correspondence. Citing the BOP report, Ossoff said it detailed a case in November 2018 where an inmate died by hanging. Guards did not conduct checks prior to the inmate’s death and inmates had been caught on camera passing contraband under cell doors.

“When I when I tell you I’m not aware, specifically, I can’t remember specifically what I did at that time,” said Carvajal, who was then assistant director for correctional programs. “I do know that I received those reports and we took appropriate action to address those issues.”

Carvajal said that in April he conducted a day-long visit at the Atlanta facility where he met with staff.

The U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta has been under public scrutiny for years. An inmate and his fiancée pleaded guilty in 2017 to running what prosecutors described as an “inmate Uber.” The two admitted to transporting convicts to and from the prison, allowing them access to outside food and contraband.

Last year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that four senior prison officers were banned from the facility amid a corruption investigation and the prison’s population was reduced from more than 1,800 to 134.

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