Feds Seek to Implement Unconstitutional Power Grab
The Obama administration just can?t stop blaming the Second Amendment for violence perpetrated by Mexican drug cartels.
In the latest brazen attempt to circumvent the Constitution, Obama and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) are seeking to implement rules that will subject American gun dealers to even more onerous paperwork requirements.
A new proposed rule will, for the first time, establish the precedent that licensed firearms dealers will be required (by administrative fiat) to report to the government the sale of two or more semi-automatic rifles that are .22 caliber or greater, can accept a detachable magazine, and are purchased by the same person within five business days.
In a move that bypasses the elected representatives of the people (the Congress), the new rules could be instituted by regulatory fiat as quickly as January 5, 2011.
This idea was concocted more than a year ago by New City Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that only seems to focus on punishing legal gun owners.
Even worse, the final decision on implementing this plan will be up to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), headed by Cass Sunstein. In 2009, GOA opposed the confirmation of Sunstein, who would like to ban hunting and allow animals to have legal representation in court.
This mandate will not only violate federal statutory law prohibiting a federal gun registry, it will also give the BATFE another excuse to harass American gun dealers, while doing nothing to address the problem of border violence.
Drug cartels are financed to the tune of the billions of dollars. They finance disposable submarines, tunnels between the two countries, and large shipments of weapons from rogue nations. Cartels have bribed Mexican officials at the highest levels to the tune of millions of dollars, and have taken effective control of entire cities in Mexico. To suggest that adding yet another layer of paperwork requirements to U.S. gun dealers will help to stem the violence is ludicrous. This is simply another attempt to ratchet down on the right to keep and bear arms.
The Second Amendment is not the cause of border, drug-related violence. And as violence increasingly occurs on our side of the border, Second Amendment rights become even more important for self-protection.
Gun Owners of America is submitting comments opposing these new rules and is urging members of Congress to slam the brakes on this proposal.
ACTION: Please urge your Representative and Senators to oppose this abuse of federal power. Click here to send a pre-written letter that includes two specific steps that members of Congress can take immediately, and it also urges them to prepare, if necessary, to push legislation to overturn this unlawful act.
It is especially important for licensed gun dealers to take these actions, so please pass this alert on to your local gun store.
