ATF: What Gun Regulations Should be Repealed or Replaced
Kevin Felts 07.11.17
Shortly after Donald Trump entered office, he signed an Executive Order instructing Government agencies to set up a task force which would be charged with looking for “costly Government regulations.”
In response to that Executive Order, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) held closed door meetings in May and June. The purpose of the meetings were to get input from various groups about which gun regulations should be repealed and and or replaced.
The Trace originally reported on the meetings – What Gun Regulations Should be “Repealed or Replaced”? The ATF Wants to Know.
In three closed-door meetings held in May and June, top ATF officials separately asked firearms-industry leaders, law enforcement officials, and representatives from gun-violence prevention groups what current regulations could be eliminated without risking public safety, according to attendees who went to one or more of the meetings.
An agenda for a May 22 meeting with gun-industry leaders, obtained by The Trace, asked attendees to consider three questions: what impact current regulations have on gun-violence prevention; what regulations need to be “repealed, replaced, or modified,” and what regulations are outdated.
A lot of the so called regulations are actually laws.
Over the past few months there has been a lot of talk about legalizing silencers. Silencers are regulated under the 1934 National Firearms Act and there is nothing the ATF can do about that. It will take an act of congress and the president signing the bill into law before silencers are no longer regulated.
However, the ATF is backlogged with applications for silencers. Deregulating and legalizing silencers would free up resources, resources which would be better used by catching criminals than delaying law abiding citizens.
On a personal note, I have to ask “why” did a Government agency hold closed door meetings? Hold the meetings in a public forum and allow the press to attend and broadcast the meetings. The ATF is a Government agency that is supported through taxation. Nothing they do should be “secret” or behind closed doors.
By excluding the public, the NRA and the press, I have to wonder if the ATF is going to buddy up with gun control groups?
Why were Americans for Responsible Solutions, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and Everytown for Gun Safety (gun control groups) allowed to attend, but the media and the NRA were excluded?
There was not a single mention of the NRA in the Trace article. I also did an internet search and was unable to find any reference to the NRA attending the ATF meeting. So, why were various gun control groups allowed to attend a closed door meeting with the ATF, but not the NRA?
The good news, Ronald Turk, Associate Deputy Director of the ATF wrote a white paper detailing,
- Allow import of curio or relic (C&R) firearms.
- Reclassify AR and AK style rifles as sporting rifles, which open the doors to import.
- Review and possibly remove or amend outdated regulations.
While the white paper gives hope the ATF is headed in the right direction, holding closed door meetings with gun control groups flies in the face of an open Government serving the people.
