Federal law established in 1986 directly banned the establishment of a national gun registry, and for obvious reasons. Such a list is a giant leap toward anti-gunners’ ultimate goal—the confiscation of all firearms from U.S. citizens.
Earlier this month, a group of gun rights advocating lawmakers wrote the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) demanding the agency address this pivotal issue. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) and 26 of his congressional colleagues asked the agency why the original query, lodged a year ago, is still unanswered.
A Reason.com report quoted the letter’s accusation of official wrongdoing.
Lawmakers want ATF to address concerns of illegal gun registry
“We fear that ATF could have as many as 1.1 billion gun registration records in its database, if ATF has continued with this historic pace and digitalized an average of 50 million firearm transaction records per year.”
The outlet then noted that this action is an obvious violation of established federal law.
The 1986 Firearm Owners’ Protection Act expressly barred such a list. “No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act may require that…any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established.”
FFLs are now required to maintain records for two decades
The catch is that the 1986 law mandated that gun dealers hand their sales records over to the federal government if they cease operations. Before this law, these businesspeople were free to purge older files and only surrender records of more recent purchases.
This changed under the previous administration. Now, FFLs are mandated to keep firearm transaction records for 20 years.
Of course, these files in government hands are more than concerning.
This should be obvious to the powers at the ATF, which is now rebranded to better work with the Second Amendment community and preserve these fundamental freedoms. But actions speak louder than mere words, and the agency’s response will be closely watched.
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