SAF Submits Comments on Proposed ATF Rule Changes

Earlier this week, I echoed a call to make your voice heard with regard to the ATF’s proposed rule changes. I think this is important as the last thing we need to do is make anti-gunners’ jobs any easier. While they’re engaged in fearmongering and hysteria, cooler heads need to weigh in.

I still need to practice what I preach, admittedly, because as I write this, I haven’t actually done it myself — when I finish writing for the day, I plan on fixing that — but that doesn’t make it less important.

And, thankfully, someone else was already more on top of things than I was, as the Second Amendment Foundation has already done its part.

From a press release:

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) submitted a series of formal comment letters to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on multiple proposed rules, urging the agency to modernize regulations in ways that better respect the Second Amendment, gun-owner privacy and the right to interstate travel with firearms. 

In late April, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut was on hand for the announcement of 34 proposed and final rules announced during a press conference and signing by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and ATF Director Robert Cekada. At the ceremony, Cekada signed final rules, including the rescission of the “stabilizing brace” and “engaged in the business” rules, and provided summary insights into proposed rules, including updates to Form 4473 for the commercial transfer of firearms, clarifying interstate transportation of firearms under the Gun Control Act, and recordkeeping requirements for Federal Firearms Licensees.  

“These comment letters reflect SAF’s commitment to ensuring that federal regulations remain consistent with the text, history and tradition of the Second Amendment,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “The Constitution and our historical tradition demand that ATF get these proposed rules right. Fortunately, for the most part, they have. The proposed rules are, overall, in accord with the Second Amendment. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this process and urge the agency to finalize rules that expand, rather than restrict, the rights of peaceable citizens.” 

Across the letters, SAF supported proposals that would ease outdated barriers to non-over-the-counter firearms transactions, restore reasonable time limits on dealer records retention, clarify and strengthen protections for interstate transportation of firearms under the Gun Control Act and Firearm Owners’ Protection Act and reduce unnecessary burdens on the interstate movement of National Firearms Act items. SAF also commented on proposed revisions to Form 4473, the definition of “adjudicated as a mental defective,” and rules governing selection of biological sex on ATF forms. 

“SAF is actively engaging in the regulatory process because these rules will have real-world consequences for millions of law-abiding gun owners across the nation,” Kraut said. “We support reforms that modernize outdated practices, protect privacy and reduce unnecessary barriers to the exercise of Second Amendment rights, while remaining vigilant against any changes that could expand government overreach or create new obstacles for peaceable Americans.”

Some of these are, in fact, an update to reflect changes in technology that weren’t accounted for previously. Others take us all the way back to a few years ago, before the Biden administration tried to screw up gun ownership and the gun industry with unilateral action because they couldn’t actually ban things they wanted to ban.

I don’t blame Biden for this, mind you, but only because POTATUS can’t be held responsible for any of his actions over the last five years or so. I put the blame on the people around him, though.

The truth is that these rules are pretty much all good news for us, which is why the anti-gunners are losing their minds. They’re absolutely devastated that the ATF is no longer their little lap dog and is actually siding with the American people for a change. I don’t expect it to last, but I do think we need to enjoy it while we can.

And that means doing as the SAF has done, making those comments, getting everyone else to do it as well, so that they’ve got plenty of ammunition to show that they are, in fact, working for the American people and not some nebulous “gun lobby” that conveniently ignores their own lobbying efforts.

These rules are about us. They’re about our lives, our communities, and our right to keep and bear arms. That right, preserved in the second of ten amendments the Founding Fathers themselves felt were vitally important to preserve. It’s the insurance policy for all other rights, and when you remember how many of the current generation of anti-gunners also have called for laws against so-called hate speech, “misinformation,” and other things to curtail the First Amendment, you can see why it’s important.

Dig in and make the comments. They don’t have to be long. They just need to be present and lacking hysteria.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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