GOP Sens. Call Out ATF over 'Mass Denial' of Suppressor Applications

Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), and 24 other Republican senators are demanding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) stop infringing Americans’ Second Amendment rights via denial of suppressor applications.

Landford, Daines, and other Republicans specifically called on the ATF to stop targeting law-abiding citizens who make their own suppressors at home.

A March 18, 2022, press release from Lankford’s office references the ATF’s denial of applications for suppressor ownership, and quotes Jason Ouimet, of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA): “The mass denial of ATF Form 1 applications is a direct infringement against the Second Amendment rights of hundreds – maybe thousands – of law-abiding Americans seeking to work within ATF’s own longstanding rules regarding the home manufacture of suppressors.”

The senators asked the ATF to explain why they are rejecting the applications:

These continued assaults of the Second Amendment threaten law-abiding Americans’ rights as they try to follow ATF guidance on making these parts. We request that the ATF provide us answers on why they are rejecting legal applications and denying law abiding citizens access to their Second Amendment right.

The senators added, “The ATF was not established to interfere with a basic right afforded to every American.”

The letter quotes Gun Owners of America’s (GOA’s) Aiden Johnson:

As if the National Firearms Act wasn’t enough of an infringement, ATF’s denial of American’s [sic] right to manufacture NFA firearms—which is explicitly provided for under federal law—reveals the agency’s true intent is to restrict the Second Amendment rights of the People. GOA is thankful for the Senators demanding accountability from ATF for the illegal denial of gun owners’ Form 1 applications.

The House Second Amendment Caucus is also pressing the ATF regarding the agency’s de facto gun registry.

On March 17, 2022, Breitbart News reported that the Second Amendment Caucus is demanding passage of Rep. Mike Cloud’s (R-TX) NO REGISTRY Rights Act, designed to end the ATF’s collection and maintenance of records related to gun sales and transfers.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at [email protected]. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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