Senator Burr Spearheads Letter to BATFE, OMB

Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) sent a letter—signed by sixteen additional Senators—to the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) opposing an enormous power grab by bureaucrats in the Obama administration.

The BATFE filed an “information collection request” with OMB to require federally licensed firearms dealers in the four states bordering Mexico (California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) to report to the agency sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles to an individual within five business days if the firearms are larger than .22 caliber and can accept a detachable magazine.

BATFE sought approval by January 5, 2011, but that request has been delayed.  Nevertheless, the agency is attempting to take this action without the specific authority to do so, and in fact, is acting contrary to federal law which prohibits the collection of such data.

Furthermore, BATFE—which has a long history of violating gun owners’ rights—is also is bypassing the people’s elected officials in Congress.

The Obama administration and anti-gunners in Congress have for several years been blaming U.S. gun owners and firearms dealers for the violence on the Mexico border.  But America’s Constitution and the Second Amendment are not the cause of Mexico’s violence.

Click here to read comments submitted by GOA, here to read the BATFE’s proposed rule, and here to read the letter drafted by Sen. Burr.

GOA would like to thank Sen. Burr and the following Senators for signing on to the letter (names appear in the order listed in the letter):

John Cornyn (TX)
Tom Coburn (OK)
Jim DeMint (SC)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Mike Enzi (WY)
John Thune (SD)
David Vitter (LA)
Mike Crapo (ID)
John Barrasso (WY)
John Ensign (NV)
John Boozman (AR)
Rand Paul (KY)
Jim Inhofe (OK)
James Risch (ID)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)