| WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, urges the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to heed the call by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and 29 other U.S. Senators to quickly act on President Donald Trump’s Executive Order to review and roll back unconstitutional gun control regulations and rules that were levied on the firearm industry by the previous White House administration.
A letter, sent to Marvin G. Richardson, ATF Deputy Director, specifically called on the agency to formally end the “engaged-in-the-business” rule, the pistol-brace rule, the “ghost gun” rule and ATF’s “zero tolerance” policy that has forced small business firearm retailers to lose or surrender their licenses for minor clerical errors discovered during inspections.
“The previous administration wielded the ATF like a hammer and anvil against the firearm industry, turning the regulatory agency into one that punished and carried out a radical gun control agenda designed to diminish Second Amendment rights. President Donald Trump – along with Senator John Cornyn and these dozens of other senators – are righting the ship and returning ATF to its mandated role as a law enforcement agency focused on combatting violent crime and to act as a non-partisan regulator of the firearm industry,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The rules specifically identified by the senators were designed to punish the firearm industry and usher in gun control outside of the legislative process. NSSF has protested these rules ever since they were announced and is heartened that the Trump administration and the Senate is acting quickly to protect Second Amendment rights and the lawful firearm industry. NSSF encourages ATF to act quickly on Senator Cornyn’s letter and enact these reforms to roll back unconstitutional overreaches brought by the Biden administration.”
In addition to urging the ATF to roll back the punishing and unconstitutional measures, the Senate letter urges ATF to “immediately destroy the hundreds of millions of ATF Form 4473 firearm transaction records and other licensee records that are over 20 years old. These records have no particular law enforcement value but do contain the sensitive information of millions of law-abiding gun owners.”
NSSF concurs with this request as those two-decade-old background check forms hold little value providing actionable law enforcement leads to solve crimes. This action would ensure gun owners’ privacy is protected and reduce administrative burdens to firearm trace requests. Prior to the Biden administration, federal firearm licenses were not required to retain these records after 20 years.
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About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org. |
