By: Kayleigh Hamilton
The ATF made a major grab for power.
D.C. erupted as soon as people heard about it.
And now powerful politicians are backing the ATF in their anti-gun power grab.
The gun control lobby knew that Donald Trump was about to take office and they were unlikely to have much sway or influence within his administration.
That’s why there was a very high degree of urgency on the part of anti-gun activists to get something done before Joe Biden left office that would be difficult for Trump to undo.
They managed to convince the ATF to make some “final rules” during Biden’s tenure in office that would attack the freedoms of gun owners.
And at the last minute they brought in the cavalry in the form of Democrat attorneys general who are going to use their legal power to defend these new rules.
Donald Trump is going to have to act quickly to do something about this or else these new rules will become established law.
And gun owners are going to have to put pressure on him to do the right thing instead of sitting back and letting these new rules take effect.
According to The Truth About Guns, “While most gun owners likely view the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rulemaking as an overreach into creating laws rather than enforcing them—the agency’s primary role—some district attorneys from blue states have come together to support a few of these overreaches.
“According to an ABC News report, 17 state attorneys general, led by Democrat New Jersey AG Matt Platkin, announced on January 16 their intention to defend ATF final rules that redefine forced reset triggers as machine guns and also redefined who is ‘engaged in the business’ of selling guns, despite President Trump taking office soon.”
If these blue-state AGs were going to announce this, they should have done it before the election and given the American people a chance to vote on it.
Instead, they waited until the election was over and did it during Joe Biden’s lame-duck period as president.
The article continues, “In August, a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocks the enforcement of the final rule against several groups, including the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), its members, Texas Gun Rights (TGR) and its members and Rare Breed Triggers and its customers.”
“It will be interesting to see if the ATF under President Trump swiftly reverses some of the ‘final rules’ imposed on Americans by Biden’s weaponized ATF, as many gun-rights advocates hope will occur.”
Guns do not seem to be a top issue for Trump, who appears far more invested in things like immigration, trade, and foreign policy.
This means gun owners will have to speak up very loudly to get his attention and pressure him to act against the ATF’s rules on this.
Otherwise, Trump will likely get distracted by the myriad of other issues he is dealing with and these rules will remain law.