Empower Oversight, a watchdog organization, demands the Biden administration to publicize the draft of the proposed bill prohibiting private gun sales after an ATF whistleblower exposed the plan.
According to two sources, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is getting ready to propose a regulation mandating background checks for most or all gun purchases, according to a statement by Empower Oversight on Wednesday.
In August, President Biden put up a proposal to clarify that those who “repetitively” sell firearms are required to register as federally licensed gun dealers and are subject to criminal background checks.
According to Empower Oversight president Tristan Leavitt, the updated rule that the ATF is allegedly crafting would be considerably more expansive. He made this statement in a series of posts on X.
Leavitt stated that Empower Oversight “has learned through whistleblowers within ATF that ATF has drafted a 1,300-page document to justify a rule effectively banning the private sale of firearms” at the White House’s request.
“Senior Policy Counsel Eric Epstein, who served as the Division Counsel for the Phoenix Field Office during Operation Wide Receiver (a forerunner to Operation Fast and Furious), is drafting the rule, according to the whistleblowers.”
“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” states the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, and Leavitt continued, “would clearly violate such a sweeping rule with the effect of banning private sales.”
Empower Oversight requested more information on Wednesday through a Freedom of Information Act request to the ATF and Justice Department.
Gun dealers with federal licenses are required to use the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to enter buyer information and perform background checks.
One whistleblower fears that some dealers may find it difficult to access NICS or may not even be aware that they need to, potentially putting them in legal danger.
Bipartisan gun legislation passed in 2022 following a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, according to the ATF, mandates registration as a federally licensed dealer for those who regularly sell firearms for income generation purposes.
Previously, sellers with “the principal objective of livelihood and profit” were the only ones eligible for registration.
It’s unclear what exceptions, such as transfers of family firearms, may be included in the purportedly impending ATF rule, which would need to go through a public notice and comment period.
According to the ATF, they received more than 370,000 comments during the rule’s public comment period, which ended on December 8.
While not explicitly responding to the whistleblower claims, ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua told The Post that the agency is “reviewing and analyzing every single one” of the comments on the previous plan.
“We are unable to provide any additional comments at this time as the proposed rule is still going through the process,” she stated.
