The Department of Justice frames the rules as an outworking of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which Biden signed in 2022.
On December 16th, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released two new gun control rules under the label of “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (NPRM).
First of the NPRMs, called the “Firearm Handlers Rule,” states:
“Federal firearm licensees (FFLs), such as gun stores, be allowed to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to voluntarily conduct employment background checks for certain employees. Current NICS regulations prohibit FFLs from initiating background checks for any purpose other than the transfer of firearms. Under the Firearm Handlers NPRM, FFLs will be permitted to request NICS background checks for current or prospective employees who may handle firearms, ammunition, or related materials. The Firearm Handlers Rule NPRM details the scope of employees eligible for background checks, as well as new NICS statuses proposed for such checks.”
The second NPRM, called the “Under-21 Rule,” would “codify enhanced NICS background check procedures for prospective firearm purchasers under 21 years of age, among other changes.”
The DOJ pointed out:
“Under the BSCA, NICS is required to conduct enhanced background checks for such under-21 purchasers, by contacting certain state and local entities to determine if a juvenile record, such as a criminal conviction or mental health record, may disqualify the purchaser from possessing a firearm. The FBI began performing these enhanced checks in late 2022 and has denied nearly 1,000 transactions solely because of enhanced outreach.”
Both of these proposed “rules” stem from the BSCA, which was rammed into law in 2022 following the Uvalde tragedy.
However, gun rights supporters are saying none of these rules would have done anything to stop the horrific tragedy in 2022 or even prevent future Uvalde-style attacks in the future.
Additionally, both of the proposed rules seek to change laws, making them unconstitutional as this is a function of Congress.
Such tests have caused multiple ATF rules to fail as courts have decided that the agency exceeded its authority under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), also striking down Chevron deference, which formerly provided the regulatory agency final say on interpreting the meaning of a law.
Read more at Breitbart.
