1. Safer Communities Act.
Gun Owners of America has informed me that ATF has weaponized the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act as a backdoor to enact Universal Background Checks and Firearm Registration by claiming that hundreds of thousands of gun owners who sell a few personal firearms suddenly now must become federally licensed as gun dealers.
The ATF’s proposed rule ATF 2022R-17 is an unconstitutional and blatantly erroneous interpretation of federal law and must not be finalized.
| 1) ATF is wrong to suggest a single firearm sale—or no sale at all—might require a license: ATF’s rule claims that the agency has opted not to “establish a threshold number of firearm sales per year” that require licensure, and instead suggests that “even a single firearm transaction, or offer to engage in a transaction, when combined with other evidence, may be sufficient to require a license.” However, the statutes enacted by Congress clearly do not intend to regulate the conduct of an individual who merely sells a single firearm. Instead, 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(11), (21), (22), and (23) clearly contemplate regulating someone who “regular[ly]” and “repetitive[ly]” either (a) manufactures and sells or (b) purchases and resells multiple “firearms.” 2) ATF fails to protect unlicensed conduct exempted by Congress: Additionally, Congress also expressly exempted “occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby.” According to Congress, ATF cannot presume anyone to be “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms simply because they sold a few guns on a few occasions. In contrast, ATF’s rule provides no such assurances. 3) Wrongfully licensing constitutionally protected activity will lead to warrantless searches and additional constitutional violations: Moreover, by selling a single firearm—and thus purportedly coming under the jurisdiction of the ATF as a newly-minted gun dealer—private gun owners can now be subjected to warrantless searches of their homes and their firearm collections. This is a clear violation of both the Second and Fourth Amendments, and it runs totally contrary to the Supreme Court’s Caniglia decision in 2021. In that case, the Biden administration fully supported the ability of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of firearms in the home as part of a so-called “welfare check.” But the Supreme Court ruled against the Rhode Island police—and the Biden administration—with a 9-0 vote. Now, the Biden administration is trying to implement warrantless searches though the back door and without even having a vote in Congress. 4) ATF suggests it might deny a license to applicants who the agency ordered to become licensed: One footnote in this proposed rule suggests the ATF might prevent a person from obtaining a license to even engage in future firearm transactions because they were presumed to have “willfully engaged in the business of dealing in firearms without a license.” Therefore, the agency might warn that individual of their purportedly unlawful behavior. Such an individual, wishing to complete a future firearm transaction without ATF harassment, might submit an application to obtain a license to deal in firearms. But ATF’s footnote suggests the law-abiding individual might be denied the license simply because their previous conduct (even before this new rule) was presumptively (not objectively) unlawful. Thus, law-abiding citizens wishing to avoid any legal grey area created by this ATF rule are damned if they do get a license, and damned if they don’t! 5. ATF’s backdoor Universal Background Check includes Universal Firearms Registration: So-called “Universal Background Checks” are only enforceable with a gun registry. This rule proposes that private citizens be regulated by the federal government as gun dealers, forcing them to run background checks on every firearm transaction in a backdoor attempt to require private citizens to create, maintain, and eventually turn over these registration papers (i.e. Forms 4473, Multiple Sales Reports, and Acquisition and Disposition logs). Failure to fill out registration paperwork and create a paper trail for even a single firearm transaction will be considered a federal crime. The Biden Administration described this as “moving the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.” And the rule is only enforceable by cannibalizing the existing commercial federal firearms license and background check system into an unconstitutional, illegal gun registration scheme for all firearm sales. But as ATF checks in on private transactions, those who privately transfer a firearm without a license and who do not maintain federal gun registration paperwork will be presumed by ATF to be in noncompliance with the law. As such, this rule exceeds statute and infringes on the constitutional right protected by the Second Amendment. |
2. Sen. Warren’s S. 3223.
Under Sen. Warren’s S. 3223, the Federal government would ban the sale of “bulk” ammunition, require that FFL’s maintain records on individual ammunition transactions to include reporting of those to the federal government, end ammunition “straw purchases”, and require background checks for ammunition in a similar fashion of firearm transfers.
Obviously, behind the façade of legal jargon is their true motive, the totally end of ammunition sales across the country. In the tyrant’s mind, if we can’t ban the guns, we will ban the ammunition to use them.
This is an obvious attempt to make a registry, so that the Government knows about every round that you buy.
This workaround to a gun ban and its companion, H.R. 6172, must be challenged, opposed, and defeated!
We need you to use the Firearms Policy Coalition Constituent Outreach tool on this page and tell your elected officials that this bill is completely abominable, and any support for it should be condemned.
| Official Greeting, As a constituent and member of Firearms Policy Coalition, I’m urging you to oppose the Ammunition Registry, S. 3223 and its companion H.R.6172. This abhorrent abuse of legislative responsibility is an affront to any sense of justice, liberty, or good will to your constituent. Ammunition is a critical component to being able to keep and bear arms, and the further regulation of these sales only serves as a work around to banning the sale and use of firearms. Making ammunition more expensive and difficult to acquire would severely limit the amount of time people are able to dedicate to training and practicing with their firearm due to financial and legal barriers. This would be a major disservice to the individual gun owners, as well and the community at large, and would lead to a less well trained and practiced population. I expect you to condemn this bill in its entirety, and call on your fellow legislators to do the same. FPC will keep me up to date on this bill and it’s votes, I hope to see your opposition to it. |
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