GIFFORDS, Brady, Everytown: Trump’s proposed ATF rules would make Americans less safe

WASHINGTON — This week GIFFORDS, Brady, and Everytown for Gun Safety submitted more than a dozen public comments opposing federal proposals that would significantly weaken firearms regulations and increase the risk of gun violence nationwide. The organizations warned that the proposed rules — the bulk of which were announced in April by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with the backing of the gun industry — would endanger communities. 

One of the proposals would make it easier for people to travel across state lines with extremely dangerous weapons regulated by the National Firearms Act, such as machine guns, which are extremely lethal and have extra precautions set in place for a reason. Another one would roll back a rule that ensures those who are engaged in the business of selling firearms conduct background checks. Many polls show that Americans want gun buyers to undergo background checks, yet this rule would reverse this progress. A third proposal would allow ATF and gun dealers to destroy records that are critical for crime gun tracing, undermining law enforcement’s ability to solve violent crime.

“If enacted, these ATF rules will endanger communities and lead to more gun crime. Fewer background checks will occur, crime guns will be harder to trace, straw purchases will be easier to make and extremely dangerous weapons like machine guns could be brought into communities without law enforcement’s knowledge. GIFFORDS won’t stop ringing the alarm about the realities of these proposals and we will fight to stop them from being enacted,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. 

“Eliminating in-person background checks. Letting gun sellers destroy sales records. Loosening restrictions on highly lethal firearms. Letting reckless gun sellers stay in the business of selling guns to the public. These proposals would strip away decades of protections that save lives and hold the gun industry accountable. And let me be clear: the consequences will be devastating. One proposed rule even explicitly warns that implementation could result in ‘mass casualty events.’ That’s not a prediction we should accept. It’s a warning we should heed. Americans deserve leaders who measure success by lives saved, not guns sold. This November, they’ll have the chance to hold their leaders accountable for that choice,” said Brady President Kris Brown.

“When Todd Blanche — who has claimed to be part of the gun industry — surrounds himself with industry lobbyists to announce changes undermining life-saving gun laws, it’s yet another sign that the Trump Administration is putting profits ahead of public safety. These new rules make it easier for guns to end up in dangerous hands and harder for law enforcement to combat gun crime, which is why ATF itself admits they will make mass casualty events more likely. This movement won’t let the Trump Administration put public safety up for sale without a fight, and accountability is coming in November,” said Everytown president John Feinblatt.

See all of GIFFORDS’ public comments here.