Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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The database the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives uses to compile data about guns sold at shops that have gone out of business is much larger than previously reported, and Republicans have vowed to fight against the database’s existence with even greater vigor in response.
As first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the ATF’s Out of Business Records Imaging System contains about 865 million records. Previously, as was reported on FISM, it was believed the number was closer to 54 million.
The system, which was developed in 2006 to replace an older system in which microfilm was used to store gun data, is expected to grow even larger as more records are digitized.
Some members of Congress have argued the creation of such a database is a violation of the federal law that prevents the use of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to create a registry of firearms or firearm owners.
As the Biden administration has pushed to tighten gun laws in the U.S., conservatives and Second Amendment advocates have grown more concerned that a large database could be used to harass law-abiding citizens.
According to the ATF, the database is used as a tool in criminal investigations and is not used to collect identifiable information about gun owners.
The Free Beacon acquired a letter from the ATF to Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), who has been joined by 51 fellow members of Congress in demanding answers about the database.
In the letter, Daniel L. Board Jr., a public affairs representative with the ATF, assures Cloud that the agency “is confident that it does not violate any laws.”
Board points to a Government Accountability Office study from 2016, one started after a letter from Cloud, that found the ATF was operating within the bounds of the law.
“GAO recognized that [out of business records] do not capture and store certain key information, such as firearms purchaser information, in an automated file,” Board writes.
The ATF asserts that the database is only used in criminal investigations, and often at the request of state or local law enforcement.
“The sole purpose of these systems is to trace firearms used in crimes, which is a valuable crime gun intelligence tool used in thousands of investigations by ATF and our local, State, and Federal law enforcement partners,” Board writes.
Board later adds, “The NTC only traces crime guns, and every trace must be identified as such by the requestor by selecting an appropriate crime code when submitting the trace request.”
Cloud was not swayed by Board’s letter. In a tweet on Monday, he decried the registry saying that “the ATF is shamelessly circumventing existing law to accumulate these records.”
A federal firearm registry is explicitly banned by law.
The Biden Administration continues to empower criminals while diminishing the rights of law-abiding Americans.
The ATF is shamelessly circumventing existing law to accumulate these records.
They must be held accountable. https://t.co/sNV742PV4P
— Congressman Michael Cloud (@RepCloudTX) January 31, 2022
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) joined his colleague in criticizing the ATF:
The left wants to defund the police, then go after your guns.
That means turning law-abiding Americans into sitting ducks for violent criminals.
Biden’s ATF is now using surveillance to get around federal law to track gun owners.
NO Republican should be voting to fund this. https://t.co/b9uklSlQWp
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) January 31, 2022
According to data provided to Cloud by Board, the ATF conducted about 259,000 traces using its out of business records database in 2021. A little under 59,000 of those traces were connected to violent crime. Both numbers were down from 2020 but similar to 2019.