Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

New York Times Throws ATF Pity Party

Monday, May 10, 2021

New York Times Throws ATF Pity Party

It’s time once again for that lamest of all biennial traditions –  the publication of a lengthy New York Times or Washington Post opinion piece disguised as news that commiserates about the purportedly beleaguered state of the ever-so valiant Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). As if taking direction directly from the Democratic National Committee, the institutional gun control organizations, or the Biden administration, this year’s version was timed to coincide with the release of Joe Biden’s administrative gun controls and his nomination of Bloomberg-backed gun control lobbyist David Chipman to lead ATF. 

Titled “How the A.T.F., Key to Biden’s Gun Plan, Became an N.R.A. ‘Whipping Boy’,” the May 2 screed rehashes a laundry list of ATF complaints. According to the New York Times, ATF lacks leadership, is plagued by internal squabbles, and isn’t afforded enough power to sufficiently harass Federal Firearms Licensees (gun dealers).

However, the paper’s chief complaint is that dastardly pro-gun forces are inhibiting ATF from creating a quasi-gun registry from out-of-business dealer records.

Federal law requires those who purchase a firearm at a gun dealer to fill out a form 4473. This record of the firearm transfer is then stored by the dealer on their premises. This creates a system whereby if a gun is found at a crime scene ATF can trace the firearm to the last retail purchase. However, since the records are stored with each FFL, the system is decentralized in a manner that protects against government abuse of gun owner data.

Gun dealers are required to maintain 4473s for 20 years. When a dealer goes out of business they must send their last 20 years of records to ATF’s National Tracing Center to facilitate firearm traces.

The New York Times whined, 

The gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, has for years systematically blocked plans to modernize the agency’s paper-based weapons-tracing system with a searchable database. As a result, records of gun sales going back decades are stored in boxes stacked seven high, waiting to be processed, against every wall.

The paper records, which must be fed by hand into scanning machines to be stored as visual images, represent three distinct layers of dysfunction: the lack of a modern online filing portal, the prohibition against allowing records to be input as searchable data — so they would not have to be scanned like old family photos — and the failure of Congress to fund enough people to process the information as quickly as it comes in.

What the New York Times leaves out is that NRA and the gun owners it represents have every reason to oppose the creation of a searchable database that would contain a significant portion of the data on firearms and firearms owners throughout the country. Such a system would amount to a partial firearm registry. And as all gun rights supporters and gun control advocates know, firearm registries facilitate firearms confiscation. 

This understanding was at the heart of the debate over the Gun Control Act of 1968. In 1985, Sen. James McClure (R-Idaho) explained, “The central compromise of the Gun Control Act of 1968—the sine qua non for the entry of the Federal Government into any form of firearms regulation was this: Records concerning gun ownership would be maintained by dealers, not by the Federal Government and not by State and local governments.”

The concern over government abuse of gun ownership data is well-founded, as firearm registration has already been used to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding Americans.

In 1967, New York City enacted a law requiring the registration of rifles and shotguns. In 1991 the city banned many semi-automatic firearms. As New York City already possessed a registry of firearms and their owners, the city notified the owners that their newly illegal firearms must be removed from the five boroughs (not a realistic option for many people of lesser means), permanently disabled, or relinquished to the authorities. This scenario played out again in 2013, when the NYPD sent out another round of letters to New York City gun owners, once again demanding the removal, destruction, or surrender of legally registered firearms made illegal by a subsequent law.

Moreover, there is no need to speculate about how ATF’s tracing bureaucracy could be martialed against guns owners – it already has been.

The National Firearms Act (26 USC § 5845(f)) defines “destructive device” in part as, 

any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Secretary finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes 

Such items are subject to an onerous taxation and registration regime. It should be noted that the validity of federal law’s so-called “sporting purposes tests” is in doubt following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of the individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in District of Columbia v. Heller.

In February 1994, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen (ATF was then under the Department of the Treasury) announced the reclassification of three models of shotgun as destructive devices. Under Bentsen’s view, the Striker 12/Streetsweeper and USAS-12 shotguns were not “generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes” and thus met the definition of “destructive devises.” Up until this point, these shotguns had been sold in the same manner as any non-NFA firearm.

In a press release announcing the reclassification, ATF explained how they intended to enforce the new ruling,

ATF will be working with the manufacturers and federally licensed firearms dealers to determine who owns these weapons. All owners will be receiving a notice from ATF with instructions on registering the weapons. Owners will be given 30 days from the time the receive ATF’s notice to register the weapons without payment of the transfer tax. Any weapons not registered within that time will be subject to seizure and forfeiture, and the owner could be subject to a criminal fine of up to $250,000, or up to 10 years in jail, or both. 

This is sometimes referred to as a forward trace. Rather than working from a gun found at a crime scene, ATF went to the manufacturers of the newly-restricted firearms and then followed the paper trail forward to the 4473 of the lawful purchasers.

In this instance, gun owners who had complied with the law when purchasing their shotgun were forced to register themselves with the government or forfeit their firearm. It is easy to see how a digitized searchable firearm tracing database/registry would help to facilitate the further harassment of law-abiding gun owners or even gun confiscation.

The concern over wide-scale firearm confiscation cannot be overstated. In 2015, the New York Times used a frontpage editorial to call for the confiscation of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms. Much of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary field called for the confiscation of lawfully possessed firearms, including President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

During an August 5, 2019 CNN interview, Biden had the following exchange with host Anderson Cooper when asked about firearm confiscation:

Cooper: So, to gun owners out there who say well a Biden administration means they are going to come for my guns.

Biden: Bingo! You’re right if you have an assault weapon. 

At a campaign event in Londonderry, N.H. in September 2019, then-presidential candidate Harris told reporters that confiscation of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms was “a good idea.” Elaborating on her support for a compulsory “buyback” program, the senator added, “We have to work out the details -- there are a lot of details -- but I do…We have to take those guns off the streets.” 

Biden’s anti-gun pick to lead the ATF has advocated for treating owners of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms like the AR-15 in the same manner that ATF treated the owners of the Striker 12 and USAS-12 shotguns. In a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” post, Chipman remarked “I believe we should ban the future production and sale to civilians and afford current owners of these firearms the ability to license these particular guns with ATF under the National Firearms Act.”

It is difficult to take the New York Times’s and ATF’s lamentations over the tracing center at face value considering there was nary a peep from either concerning allegations of a recent high-profile attempt to undermine the agency’s tracing regime.

According to a report from Politico, on October 12, 2018 President Biden’s son Hunter Biden was involved in a bizarre incident involving a .38-caliber revolver. The article stated that Hunter’s then-girlfriend took the renowned drug addict’s .38-caliber revolver out of his truck and disposed of it in a trash receptacle outside a grocery store in Delaware. When Hunter later tasked his girlfriend to retrieve the gun, it was nowhere to be found.

Politico noted that in the ensuing chaos regarding the missing revolver,

Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact.

The gun store owner refused to supply the paperwork, suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the missing gun in case it were to be involved in a crime, the two people said. The owner, Ron Palmieri, later turned over the papers to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which oversees federal gun laws.

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) have written a letter to the U.S. Secret Service demanding details surrounding the October 2018 incident.

Surely anyone with actual concern about the integrity of the records that comprise ATF’s tracing regime would be interested with whether wayward federal law enforcement agents were roaming the countryside altering firearm transaction records on behalf of the politically-connected. New York Times readers should expect to see the 2023 edition of the paper’s ATF sob story before any in-depth coverage of this inconvenient news item.

IN THIS ARTICLE
BATFE New York Times
TRENDING NOW
California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

Monday, October 13, 2025

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

For someone who has claimed to be"...deeply mindful and respectful of the Second Amendment and people’s Constitutional rights,” Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven that actions speak louder than words.

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

Firearm Prohibition Advocates Mute on Jay Jones “Two Bullets to the Head” Scandal

Democrat Jay Jones, candidate for Virginia attorney general, still has not suspended his campaign, even as pressure mounts over disclosures that should disqualify, to put it mildly, any individual from serving as the chief law ...

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

News  

Monday, October 13, 2025

FBI Persists in Underreporting Armed Citizen Defensive Gun Use

Three years ago, Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), writing for RealClearInvestigations, described how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was vastly undercounting, “by an order of more than three the number of instances in ...

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Another Lawsuit Challenging the National Firearms Act

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation—announced the filing of another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Monday, October 13, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear, and two NRA members—filed a lawsuit challenging California’s Glock ban.

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Rehearing En Banc Sought in NRA-Supported Challenge to New Jersey’s Carry Restrictions

Today, the National Rifle Association announced the filing of a petition for rehearing en banc in Siegel v. Platkin, a challenge to New Jersey’s carry restrictions.

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

US Virgin Islands: Sweeping Gun Control Measures Advance

The 36th Legislature of the US Virgin Islands is continuing to advance sweeping gun control measures through the legislative process.

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Thursday, October 9, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Ban on Firearms Possession by Nonviolent Felons

Today, the National Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the federal lifetime prohibition on ...

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.