Firearms Industry Files Suit Against ATF to Stop Multiple Sales Reporting of Rifles
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for America's firearms industry, has filed a lawsuit challenging the legal authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) under the Gun Control Act to compel 8,500 federally licensed firearms retailers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas to report the sale of two or more rifles.
Specifically, the regulation calls for reporting multiple sales of any semi-automatic rifle larger than .22 caliber and capable of accepting a detachable magazine that are purchased following an FBI background check by the same individual within five consecutive business days.
NSSF's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on August 3, seeks an injunction to block ATF from implementing the reporting requirement. ATF has sent "demand letters" to firearms retailers in the four states to inform retailers they must begin reporting such sales by August 14.
NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane pointed out that if ATF can require this record-keeping and reporting requirement of law-abiding retailers in these four states simply by sending a letter demanding the information, then there is no record or report ATF cannot require of any licensee, anywhere in the country, for as long as ATF wants. "This is the proverbial 'slippery slope,' and our industry is extremely concerned about it," said Keane.
Keane added, "At the time Congress authorized the reporting of multiple sales of handguns, it could have required it for the sale of long guns, but it did not. Acting ATF Director Ken Melson himself has questioned ATF's legal authority to impose this new requirement."
Despite its lawsuit, NSSF is encouraging all retailers, not just those along the Southwest border, to continue to cooperate with law enforcement and report any suspicious activity to the ATF. "The firearms industry and NSSF take pride in having a longstanding cooperative relationship with ATF," said NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti. "Retailers have long been considered a vital source of information for law enforcement in combating illegal firearm trafficking."
Even if ATF had the legal authority to require multiple sales reporting for long guns, NSSF believes the policy would still be unwise to implement. "We believe the policy will make it more difficult for retailers to assist law enforcement," said Keane. Illegal firearms traffickers will simply alter their schemes to avoid and evade the reporting requirement, making it more difficult for retailers to identify and report suspicious activity. For example, traffickers could simply recruit more "straw purchasers" and have them illegally purchase firearms from multiple licensees, or simply move their illegal trafficking activities to other states where the reporting requirement does not exist.
Sanetti pointed out that for more than a decade, the firearms industry has done its part to help prevent illegal straw purchases through the Don't Lie for the Other Guy program. The program, a cooperative effort between NSSF and ATF, educates retailers on how to spot potential illegal purchasers and warns the public that it's a serious crime to attempt such a purchase. The program is active in firearms retailer shops across the country. Over the last several years, the firearms industry has solely funded the rollout of Don't Lie for the Other Guy in border-state areas to deter individuals with intent to illegally purchase firearms. See www.dontlie.org.
Also on August 3, lawyers representing the National Rifle Association filed a separate lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging ATF's requirement for reporting multiple sales of rifles.
The National Rifle Association has also issued a press release concerning its involvement in the suit:
NRA Supports Lawsuit Challenging the Obama Administration’s Multiple Sales Reporting Requirement
The National Rifle Association is fully funding and supporting a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's demand that Federal Firearms License holders report multiple sales of long guns in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The lawsuits filed assert that the ATF lacks statutory authority to demand these reports.
NRA's Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris W. Cox has long expressed skepticism for the motivation and the timing of this ATF effort. "This is a bait-and-switch scheme by an administration and a bureau frantically trying to distract lawmakers and the general public from the deadly 'Fast and Furious' debacle. This is a serious problem with deadly consequences, yet the Obama administration wants you to believe it can deter $40 billion transnational criminal enterprises by imposing paperwork requirements on honest American firearms dealers. This scheme will unjustly burden law-abiding retailers in these four border states. It will not affect drug cartels and it won't prevent violence along our borders. It will only divert scarce law enforcement resources from legitimate criminal investigations and squander them on policing law-abiding retailers."
In a time when every federal agency is under intense budget pressure, the ATF estimates that this new reporting requirement will force it to review more than 18,000 additional documents annually. That's in addition to dealers' real-time reports of suspicious transactions-which the ATF, in the "Fast and Furious" operation, handled by telling dealers to proceed with the sales.
FFLs in these four border states began receiving tersely worded demand letters from the ATF that read:
You must submit to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reports of multiple sales or other dispositions whenever, at one time or during any five consecutive business days, you sell or otherwise dispose of two or more semi-automatic rifles capable of accepting a detachable magazine and with a caliber greater that .22 (including .223/5.56 caliber) to an unlicensed person. You are required to report all such sales that occur on or after August 14, 2011. You must continue reporting multiple sales for the rifles subject to this demand letter until we provide written notice to stop.
The NRA filed separate complaints in the District of Columbia, New Mexico and Texas challenging the administration's demands.
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