Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The hub-bub and amount of attention that’s been paid towards executive overreach coming from the Biden-Harris administration continues. The ATF, in general but in particular under this administration, is a rogue agency that’s seeking to create their own laws. The ATF also tries to interpret laws already passed by Congress and enacted, in their own distorted way.
The problem of regulatory privileges in the United States is not just relegated to the ATF, DOJ, et.al., but nearly every aspect of Federal oversight is handled similarly. We have unelected bureaucrats playing god to us peasants. Nearly every aspect of our lives are regulated by some sort of gatekeeper or guardian that can green light or shoot down whatever need we have to be fulfilled. Oftentimes these “guardians” are not people representing us, but rather working for the bureaucratic machine (only worried about their pensions). In the same spirit of what several Senators did concerning overreach, which Tom reported about a couple of weeks ago, members of the House have introduced their version of a telling Joint Resolution.
Today, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) alongside 41 colleagues introduced a Congressional Review Act Joint Resolution of Disapproval (CRA), which would prohibit the Department of Justice from implementing President Biden’s new rule to expand firearms definitions.
“Our Right to Bear Arms continues to be under attack from President Biden and the Left every single day,” said Rep. McClain. “This ghost gun rule will do nothing to stop rising crime rates throughout the country. It targets lawful gunowners, not criminals.”
If passed, this resolution of disapproval would kill President Biden’s ghost gun rule, which he announced on April 11th.
This rule would reclassify gun kits as firearms under the Gun Control Act, requiring manufacturers to be licensed and include serial numbers on the kits. It would also require commercial sellers to run background checks before selling the kits.
While no industry or aspect of our lives is immune from such overreach, it’s of the utmost importance that the members of Congress do stand up for the people on this issue. We’re not talking about equally egregious environmental regulations that are designed to slow-roll construction or cripple economies (a whole other ball of wax), we’re talking about a constitutional right. There seems to be an apparent lack of understanding within our governmental handlers’ brains of how the legislative process works, and maybe they should brush up with Mr. Bill by dusting off old LPs of Schoolhouse Rock!
The other obvious elephant in the room on the proposals by Biden-Harris’s ATF is that they’ll be ineffectual. Biden’s crack at crime in the 90’s, with supporting the 1994 Crime Bill proved to be a failure, why does he think that the same type of mentality would work here? That law, along with the so-called war on drugs, and other awful policies lead to the arrest of people over victimless crimes. People were detained over things such as simple possession of pot, and the majority of those arrested were people of color. Also similar, Harris’s stunning record of being “just” in her former role as a prosecutor in California. There’s a large number of people Harris claims to represent whom she actually sought to have imprisoned. “Fweedom” indeed madam Vice President…
Much like the failures of Biden and Harris in the past, the ATF proposed rule changes would be disproportionately affecting the otherwise law abiding. Meanwhile, real criminals would get a crack at pleading down any charges related to the rule change, if they’re ever actually prosecuted for any of their potential crimes.
The resolution, H.J.Res.86 – Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Department of Justice relating to “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms” reads as follows:
Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Department of Justice relating to “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms”.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Department of Justice relating to “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms” (published at 87 Fed. Reg. 24652 (April 26, 2022)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.
To be perfectly honest, I’d love to see a Joint Resolution like this for every aspect of overreach in our Federal government. That’d unfortunately tie up Congress too much, which would lead to the original excuse as to why regulatory rulemaking and their bodies are needed in the first place. Given the sensitive nature of what’s at stake here, just a little thing called the Constitution and Bill of Rights, I’m glad that some lawmakers have the stones to do what’s right.
Going forward into the unknown of 2022, there’s a lot on the line. We have the midterms, which can make or break the Union as we know it. There’s also the fallout from the leaked and eventual Dobbs opinion, the NYSRPA opinion, and whatever stranger than fiction October surprise we might be served up; all of which will have resounding effects going forward. For now, at least we have 42 members of the House and 22 Senators who are willing to stand up for what’s right. Or rather, point out something that’s wrong. We can hope that over time more support will come for this resolution and the Senate version.
From the press release, here’s a list of all the Representatives that have signed on as cosponsors:
Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Andy Harris (R-MD), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Jody Hice (R-GA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Tom McClintock (R-CA), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Greg Murphy (R-NC), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Scott Perry (R-PA), August Pfluger (R-TX), Greg Steube (R-FL), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), William Timmons (R-SC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Billy Long (R-MO), Rick Crawford (R-AR), Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Mary Miller (R-IL), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Bob Good (R-VA), David McKinley (R-WV), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Alex Mooney (R-WV), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Barry Moore (R-AL), Russ Fulcher (R-ID), Neal Dunn (R-FL), Fred Keller (R-PA) and Brian Babin (TX-36)
At the time of this writing, the following Senators are cosponsoring the Senate version:
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. James Risch (R-ID), Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Thomas Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).