WASHINGTON, D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- Congressman Tom Rice (R-SC), Representative Michael Cloud (R-TX), and 40 other Republicans introduced the No Retaining Every Gun in a System That Restricts Your (REGISTRY) Rights Act to dismantle the alleged Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) illegal gun registry.
In December 2020, AmmoLand News discovered that the ATF was scanning all out of business records into a database using optical character recognition (OCR) scanners. AmmoLand News was covering a story about Walmart transmitting all records of firearms sales to stores that stopped gun sales. When a federal firearms licensee (FFL) goes out of business, the FFL must send all its firearms transactions records, including bound books, to the ATF’s out-of-business office in Martinsburg, WV, to be stored. At the time, the retail giant shut down 20% of its FFL locations.
Federal law prohibits the ATF from keeping any type of gun registry. Many gun rights activists consider the out-of-business database a registry. Gun Owners of America (GOA) pushed Congress members to investigate digitizing of records by the Bureau. The ATF did not want to share too much information about the Out-of-Business Records Imaging System (OBRIS) database with the public.
A year later, Rep Cloud of Texas wrote to the ATF demanding that the Bureau tell Congress the size and scope of the out-of-business records database. The government agency responded that they held nearly one billion records to everyone’s surprise. Of those records, over 866 million have been digitized. The ATF bragged about how many guns were tracked using the database while at the same time claiming that they did not have a firearms registry.
Many different gun rights groups viewed the ATF’s admissions as proof that the law enforcement agency had a registry in violation of federal law.
The Bureau disagreed with the pro-gun group’s assessment claiming that the database was not a registry. The ATF claimed the sheer number of records made it impossible to store all the documents in paper form. The Bureau claimed it needed and is a better solution than using microfiche.
Rep Cloud, Rice, and 40 other members of Congress did not buy the ATF’s excuses. They were also concerned that the proposed rule change that would require FFLs to keep all records forever instead of for 20 years and requiring all records to be stored on-site would lead to a back door gun registry.
The members have introduced a bill that would prevent the ATF from receiving documents from FFLs that shut their doors. Instead of sending their records to the ATF’s out of business office to be scanned into the OBRIS database, the FFL would simply destroy the records.
“The Second Amendment is clear, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed,” Congressman Cloud said.
“There is no reason for law-abiding American gun owners to be subjected to excessive scrutiny on the firearms they own by the federal government. My bill would dismantle ATF’s record-keeping, restore privacy for American gun owners, and reverse the groundwork laid in the creation of a federal firearms registry.”
The bill will face an uphill battle in Congress, and President Biden would most likely veto the bill if it ever reached his desk.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Why pass a law to address criminal behavior? Just arrest the damn aft executives, fry the database, and burn the paper copies!
There is no need to pass a new law for an agency that broke two separate laws that prevent a firearms registry!
Yes, true. Unfortunately it take employees of the current executive branch to do the arresting.
WB;
Citizens arrest! Then, after a lengthy 10-minute trial, hang them! (That includes a 5-minute smoke break in the middle.)
Good morning brother! I think when things get going, there might be time for the pleading, but not time for the trial! Ha!!
I knew I could trust you to come up with a better way!
Thank you, Thank you, very much. This is a tough site to do humor on because some folks want to twist everything. Have a blessed day.
Yep – and we know who they are don’t we. While I might agree with SOME of their comments, it’s hard to find a diamond when you’re searching in a sewer.
dont make that joke if you have not had to drain a septic tank looking for a engagement ring
I’ve always been one to strongly favour the principle of “let the punishment fit the crime”. Since these louts are working so hard to remove our right to, and our possession of, a certain class of “personal property” protected by law, I think the ONLY reasonble form of punishment is to give them a quick dose (say, 55 or 65 grains) or the very item they are working to remove from our oan hands. The firing squad is a very effective means of administering those small doses of justice. I would, howeve,r strongly favour a way out for some of… Read more »
title 18 has never been enforced against government even though that is what it is for, they feal rules do not apply to them they are government ,civil asset forfeiture in violation of 5th ,and 14th amendments due process , police say judges make it legal yet fbi does it against judges orders not to , so rule of law is not about law but money what that can steal and keep
i agree, however, trying to get a law passed, is supposed to give us the illusion, our elected so called representatives are actually doing something meaningful. This situation didn
t happen overnight, its campaign season. Time to wag the dogs a$$ in our faces.they are doing something blowing smoke up our asses
Crazy Nancy will never let this bill on the floor to debate, we can’t trust our government to follow the laws and that has been proven with the spying on President Trump by our own security branch’s.
The solution to lawbreaking by the aft is not to pass a new law but to enforce the existing law.
FJB and the BATF , both are corrupt anti American POS . Time to dismantle the corrupt commie basturds and put them all in jail where they all belong for violations of thier oath to the constitution . Try them for treason and hang all thier corrupt asses .
Everything I was gonna say has already been said. Severe criminal penalties are the order of the day for all political crimes and the politicians who commit them. That’s why we need a militia and a grand jury in every county in these United States. Police are fine. As long as they follow and are subject to every law they enforce against We The People. And as long as those laws are lawful according to our highest law. We still need politician control. Militia!
I agree. Sadly, the laws are not all constitutional, and police are effectively, largely exempt from many of the laws they enforce on civilians.
This agency has out lived its relevance. The whole thing should be shut down. The million$ going there can be better spent on like say.. investigating people who hate this nation.
All it would take is a memo. Because ATF was not created by a Congressional “enabling” Act, ATF is not protected by an Congressional act. I can post the research, if you want to read it.
Sure! I think it would help provide info for folks to use when the contact their congress critters and help get that rogue group of traitors shut down.
Yes, in the aftermath of Chipman’s failed appointment, he was critical of at the Biden handlers, and has burned his bridges with them. I could be wrong.
The big problem is, that he’s still in government.
Tyrants deserve nothing more than a lynching or fed a lethal dose of lead. It’s time to stand up for “our” nation and hold those accountable for trashing our Constitution, Rule of Law, Bill of Rights, our Sovereignty, and our Freedoms. Freedom is not free, if you are a true Patriot and American this is worth the fight. Stop the nonsense now!
Welcome to the site, brother! I favor the bullet to the head and keep moving option because there will be so much work to do
instead of wasting all the time and political capital to enact a new “Law’ to render what is already illegal, illegal, why not simply gather enough solid evidence (it would appear this article contians more than enough) and file a lawsuit and injunction in an apporpriate Federal level court (select one wiht a decent judge.. say, Benitz, in San Diego?) and make the lawbreakers pay? The trouble iwth mamy of these “regulatory crimes” is that there never is a penalty for those individuals “chust fawloweengk oadahs” to deter them from this lawbreaking activity. What will guarantee that, if this new… Read more »
Why does one think the format change around October, 2020 to the 4473 put all the buyer info and firearm info on one page??? Does “easy to scan and database” ring a bell?????
I wonder if our Ammoland comments are being collected and stored at ATF… just in case.
nsa can turn your phone on and off , why do you think the old crazy people dont want the new phones ,earliest phone tracking word trips were transistor based and connected to ma bell hard wire tripped on key words , I have two of the modules these were from McCarthy era, government has been violating rights for a long time
What is the Bills’ title [ie SB-123] so we can contact our Representatives?
Riiiight! And nothing will be done until the Republicans take control of congress. AND, based on past performance, probably nothing will be done then!