By NRA-ILA
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Table of contents
1. Urgent Call to Action
Your help is urgently needed. ATF’s official comment period on the rule, “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms,” started on September 8.
The deadline to comment is December 7, 2023.
2. Importance of Commenting on Proposed Rule
The more comments ATF receives pointing out the rule’s flaws and overreach, the more accountable they’ll be.
Thoughtful comments can highlight the proposal’s true nature. This may lead ATF to reconsider its provisions.
3. How to Comment
The best way to comment is through the online portal at regulations.gov.
You can also mail comments to Helen Koppe, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Enforcement Programs and Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20226; ATTN: ATF 2022R–17.
In both cases reference docket number ATF 2022R–17.
4. More About the Proposal
Access the full proposal and its preamble at regulations.gov.
For deeper insights, check nraila.org. It’s crucial to inform both the ATF and future judges of the rule’s impracticality.
From NRA-ILA:
In truth, however, ATF has neither the resources nor the intent of handling the massive increase in FFLs the proposed rule predicts would result if its terms were adopted. Instead, the proposal is a transparent attempt to strong-arm Internet service providers, gun shows, technology platforms, and other facilitators to abandon any involvement in private gun sales with vague threats of “administrative action” for non-compliance. Meanwhile, the cartels, gang members, firearm smugglers, and violent sociopaths Congress had in mind when passing the law that supposedly enables the proposal will be entirely unaffected.
5. What the Rule Proposes
The Biden ATF wants to expand the criteria for firearm seller registration.
This will bring the U.S. closer to “universal background checks.” It will also deter private gun sales and chill the 2A rights of law-abiding gun owners.
6. Concerns with the Current Framework
ATF’s framework involves presumptions around dealing in firearms. These presumptions are not rooted in federal statute.
ATF admits these won’t apply in criminal cases, making them ineffective against criminal entities.
As NRA-ILA noted:
As we explained in our earlier article, however, ATF’s version of that framework involves a series of presumptions for both who is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms and who intends to “predominantly earn a profit” from selling guns. Yet none of these presumptions appear anywhere in federal statute and many of them concern common and entirely innocent conduct. Incredibly, ATF itself even admits that the presumptions would not apply in criminal cases, meaning the rulemaking is irrelevant to the most dangerous elements of society, while it still could be used to intimidate those who are inclined to follow the law.
7. Making Effective Comments
For impactful comments, avoid overly emotional language. Highlight inconsistencies or areas where the rule might target innocent activities.
Discuss whether ATF’s estimated figures or the practicalities of the rule are accurate.
8. What to Include in Comments
Comment on the rule’s language, its feasibility, and its public safety implications.
Address ATF’s estimates and the realities of private firearm sales. Be specific.
9. Commenter Privacy
You can choose to remain anonymous when commenting.
10. Final Note
Remember, the comment window is short. ATF is legally bound to respond to meaningful comments. It’s crucial to challenge this overreaching and flawed proposal.
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Well-considered remarks can reveal the real essence of the proposition. This could cause the ATF to reevaluate its clauses.
Kind remarks can bring the genuine essence of the proposition to light. This might cause ATF to reevaluate its guidelines.
Background checks are performed repeatedly. Everyone who is required to conduct a background check before selling a firearm is already aware that they must do so. absolutely everyone. Nobody who is required to undergo a background check manages to do so. Exactly no one.
Where can we read all the comments?
This will be my comment on the ATF and the closet homosexual, Barry Soetoro below.
The ATF under BHO, ran an illegal and massive gun running operation into the sovereign state of Mexico intentionally supplying narco-terrorists with firearms purchased by gang members in the US. Authorities in Mexico were never consulted on this operation that trampled both Federal and International Law. As a direct result of the BHO’s gun running operation, a US Border Agent, Brian Terry, was murdered with a firearm provided by the ATF. In the early days of BHO Administration, the promise was made to run the “most transparent” White House in the history of the US. This promise was one of the first casualties of “hope and change” farce that far out lasted the 8 long years of the Presidency. The BHO Administration, had had the court documents of the ATF gun running operation sealed, there is no accoutability. Do NOT let the corrupt hierarchy of the ATF damage the US and other Nations anymore.
“When those who make the laws, break the laws, in the name of the law, there is no law.” Irish Republicans