On Tuesday, Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) introduced new legislation that would ban the federal government from building a federal firearms registry through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The No Retaining Every Gun In a System That Restricts Your (REGISTRY) Rights Act is designed to restrict a massive ATF database of gun purchases from being used by the federal government as a firearms registry.
“ATF’s near-billion gun record database lays the groundwork for the biggest threat to Second Amendment advocates, potential gun confiscation,” Congressman Cloud told American Military News in an email. “The Second Amendment protects our families, communities, and secures us from tyrannical governments—both foreign and domestic. The right to bear arms must be fought for at all costs.”
Cloud’s bill “would require ATF to delete all existing firearm transaction records accumulated by the ATF,” effectively destroying the current database and “preventing the possible creation of a federal gun registry.”
Last month, a letter reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon revealed that President Joe Biden’s administration has compiled the records of nearly one billion gun purchases in the United States, the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) admitted.
Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, gun stores that close down are required to turn over to the ATF the private records of gun transactions for the past 20 years, which are subsequently stored at a federal location in West Virginia. Now, gun advocacy groups say that information is being used by the federal government to create a national gun owners’ database, which is prohibited under U.S. law.
“The Biden Administration has proposed a rule that would require FFLs to maintain all firearm transaction records in perpetuity instead of destroying them after 20 years,” Cloud’s office said in a press release. “There are valid concerns this rule will lay the groundwork for a back-door federal firearms registry, which led Congressman Cloud to launch an investigation into ATF’s (OBRIS) database.”
Cloud’s legislation would also force FFLs to destroy firearm transactions records if they go out of business, which would ensure the ATF does not compile those records.
“The Second Amendment is clear, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed,” Cloud said in a statement. “There is no reason for law-abiding American gun owners to be subjected to excessive scrutiny on the firearms they own by the federal government. My bill would dismantle ATF’s record-keeping, restore privacy for American gun owners, and reverse the groundwork laid in the creation of a federal firearms registry.”
