Questions arise after leaked documents show ATF collected records on over 54 million gun owners in the last year alone.
Here are two facts that seem to be mutually exclusive, but apparently are not: It is illegal for the U.S. government to create a national database of gun owners, and the ATF has a building in West Virginia so bloated with American gun owners’ records that a floor collapsed several years ago.
The ATF maintains that a database is easily searchable, however, and because their dragon’s hoard of unconstitutionally collected data is too thick to even wade through, it does not technically constitute one. If the ATF considers this data to be useless, however, it raises the question as to why they would waste the manpower collecting it.
It’s no secret that many government employees receive large salaries for doing very little work, but it seems that those at the ATF are no slackers. They were hard at work during the 2021 fiscal year snatching up every gun-related record they could get their hands on, and a leaked internal document obtained by the Gun Owners of America and the Washington Free Beacon has just revealed exactly how busy they were.
Over 54 million records, mostly paper but some electronic, were obtained and stored this past year by the ATF. The ATF’s spokesperson said, of course, that these records do not indicate the existence of or creation of a registry, but this is the same organization that claimed the Branch Davidians opened fire first, so you be the judge.
As evidenced by both Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and his time so far in office, gun rights are on the chopping block for this administration. Between unconstitutional rule change proposals, the nomination of a radical gun-grabber to head the ATF and the import ban on Russian ammo, the agenda has become quite clear. Considering these facts, it is not unreasonable for any American gun owner to be suspicious about such a massive record-collecting operation as this. Those who are aware of how infrequently gun records lead to arrests of violent criminals should be doubly suspicious, as it implies that the ATF had other reasons for putting in such an effort. Reasons that should have every American concerned about future federal actions regarding firearms.
The current administration has already proposed banning pistol-stabilizing braces, a common-use item that helps many physically disabled Americans defend themselves and participate in shooting sports. Now they’ve gone on to propose that gun stores would no longer be allowed to destroy their records after 20 years (the current rule) and would have to maintain them permanently until they’ve relinquished their FFL licensure. The 54 million records that were obtained this year were received from FFLs who had gone out of business, and if this new rule change were to be implemented, future years may see even more than 54 million records being collected.
We can’t be sure of how the ATF plans on using this information or why they are so keen on acquiring even more of it, but the agency’s history shows that it likely isn’t for anything good.
To read the original article containing the leaked document, please visit freebeacon.com.
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