Fighting Back: Lawsuits Challenge New Gun Sale Reporting Law
Firearms retailers, a leading industry trade organization, and Americans’ most powerful gun lobby are making good on a threat to challenge the Obama administration’s attempt to assert gun control measures by executive fiat. The legal challenge is being supported by the Second Amendment Task Force, a bipartisan group of congressional legislators that asserts the ATF lacks the authority “to track the purchases of law-abiding Americans.”
J&G Sales in Prescott, AZ, and Foothills Firearms in Yuma, AZ, intend to challenge the new ATF long-gun reporting rule focused on semi-automatic rifle sales in southwest border states. The rule would require gun shops to report the sale of five or more semi-automatic centerfire rifles to an individual within a week to the ATF.
The government claims that the rule is designed to help cut down on the straw purchase of multiple military-look rifles by gun smugglers working for the Mexican drug cartels. Critics point out the uselessness of the law, noting that the cartels would easily adapt to get around the requirement by simply sending straw purchasers to more shops or employing more purchasers. Critics also point to an existing handgun reporting law passed by Congress that the rifle reporting measure was based upon as proof of the reporting requirement’s inherent failure, as pistols continue to flow over the border.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation and the National Rifle Association intend to bracket the Obama administration with a pair of lawsuits, challenging what they view as an attempt to unconstitutionally circumvent Congress and create de facto laws by executive branch mandate:
“[We] are committed to cooperating with ATF and other law enforcement agencies … to investigate and enforce violations of firearms laws,” according to a copy of the industry group’s lawsuit not yet filed in court. “However, Congress has conferred only limited authority on ATF to require federally-licensed firearms dealers to submit information regarding firearms sales. In this case, ATF’s demand exceeds its authority and is prohibited under federal law.”
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder defends the new reporting requirement: “Action we have taken is consistent with the law.” He also claims, rather less credibly: “The measures that we are proposing are appropriate ones to stop the flow of guns from the United States into Mexico.”
Holder’s words might have more credibility if agencies under his command were not under fire for running 2,020 guns into Mexico in “Operation Fast and Furious,” which led to the deaths of an estimated 150 Mexican law enforcement officers and the murders of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Agent Jaime Zapata. Fast and Furious was being used to run guns to Mexico, where the violence the government-allowed weapons program caused was used to justify the reporting requirement Holder is now defending:
Katie Pavlich broke the story yesterday of a ”smoking gun” email between ATF officials: Mark R Chait, assistant director for field operations with the ATF, copied ATF deputy assistant director for field operations on an email to William Newell, the special agent in charge (SAC) of the Phoenix Field Division:
“Bill – Can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same FfL and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a letter on long gun multiple sales.”
Chait was asking Newell to use tracing data to support an initiative supported by the administration to require the reporting of multiple rifle sales.
Thank you for the “military-look” terminology. It’s frustrating when even gun rights supporters sometimes embrace the deceptive newspeak of “assault weapons” or other such scary titles regarding differences that are more aesthetic than actually pertain to function.
Thanks for letting us know at least Mexico is taking action, as Congress seems impotent in dealing with the corruption of this regime.
We need to keep hammering on someone in the office of the President writing laws in place of Congress. Even people who agree with the specifics of /this/ law should be up in arms about the President abrogating the powers of Congress.
Special exceptions stay with the office, they do not evaporate at the end of the person’s term in office. Remind the people who support this /decree/ (that’s what it is) that the next person in power may well be someone they hate. Do they want him to have that power?
The president is both abrogating and arrogating the powers of Congress. In short, he’s a dictator. Dictators will be dealt with harshly by the American people, he’ll soon find out.
It’s not a “Law”. It’s a rule made by overreaching bureaucrats to whom Congress seceded their authority and our Constitutional rights.
Hay, At Walmart you can buy “military-look” bb, and pellet guns…! Guess they also need to be banded…?
All this is about is… Our King Obummer, and Prince Holder’s got caught ….!
Amen to that! One, I am in full support of American’s right to purchase weapons. Two, I don’t like the idea of setting precedence for the government being allowed to track any legal purchases Americans make.
http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/assault/2nd-amendment-right-bear-arms
I suggest you view the many, many hours of sworn testimony to Darrell Issa’s oversight committee, including the hysterical initial testimony (many more to come) of Eric Holder lying his ass off. Issa is a bulldog and deserves our support!
IF I WAS ERIC HOLDER I WOLD BE MOOR CONCERN ABUT GANG SHOOTING AN DRUG CARTEL CROSING THE BORDER HOME INVASON ROBBERY THAT TURN TO MERDER COURT SISTEM LETTING MERDERER LOOS BACK IN TO THE STREET NOT A 82 YEAR OLD MAN BEYING A 22CAL WINCHESTER FIERARM OR A 6 SHOOTER THAT WY IN NOV 2012 GOOD BEY ERIC HOLDER HOPE YOU FIND A NEW JOB SOON.
So how and what can Mexico do? They are just as corrupt as our Justice Dept. and all the other departments, such as Homeland Security, FBI, etc.
I refer to this article at
atlanticdaily.com/index.php?t=politics&id=81
American Guns Supplied to Mexican Drug Cartels.