Report: GOP Lawmakers Investigating Possible ATF Gun Registry

Rep. Mike Cloud (R-TX) and 35 other Republican lawmakers are reportedly probing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) compilation of over 900 million firearm sales and transfer records.

On February 1, 2022, Breitbart News pointed to a Washington Free Beacon report which said, “The ATF disclosed to lawmakers that it manages a database of 920,664,765 firearm purchase records, including both digital and hard copy versions of these transactions.”

This report came just days after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked for $1.5 billion in funding to allow the ATF to be more involved in specific gun control initiatives.

Now the Free Beacon notes that Rep. Cloud and 35 of his GOP colleagues are investigating the ATF’s accumulation of the sales and transfer records.

Cloud and his colleagues explain that the ATF’s record keeping comes as the Biden administration is seeking to force Federal Firearms License holders (FFLs) to preserve written gun sale records indefinitely.

The GOP Reps. are pressing the ATF to explain the actual purpose of amassing so many records while simultaneously calling for an end to pressuring FFLs to preserve records on future gun sales:

We would urge that you consider rescinding the proposed regulation that would require [licensed gun stores] to preserve firearm records older than 20 years. Indeed, the evidence provided by ATF thus far demonstrates that such records likely have little utility in prosecuting crime, yet raise serious concerns about whether ATF is creating a prohibited national gun registry.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.