The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) could no longer collect racial data for gun transactions under new legislation in the House.
Gun dealers are currently required to report information about the race and ethnicity of people who purchase firearms. The ATF has been collecting this information for several years, though the agency has maintained it never compiled it in any database.
But the Freedom From Intrusive Regulatory Enforcement of Arbitrary Registration Mandates (FIREARM) Act reintroduced late Monday by Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and Ted Poe (R-Texas) would strike down this controversial policy.
“Forcing citizens who are lawfully purchasing guns to disclose race and ethnicity with the threat of federal prosecution if they fail to disclose is completely unnecessary,” Poe said in a statement. "Bottom line, if a law-abiding citizen is lawfully purchasing firearms, race and ethnicity are irrelevant."
The ATF made changes to Form 4473 in 2012, according to the lawmakers, requiring gun dealers to submit information about the race and ethnicity of their customers.
Gun dealers that fail to comply with the new requirements could face penalties from the ATF, the lawmakers say.
Sen. Roy Blunt last fall criticized the controversial policy in a letter to then ATF Director Todd Jones and asked whether the information about a person's race has ever been used to block someone from purchasing a gun.
“The constitutional right of a citizen to own a firearm has nothing to do with race or ethnicity,” Blunt wrote at the time. “It is disconcerting that the U.S. government is gathering this type of data on citizens when there is no connection between purchasing a firearm and an individual’s race or ethnicity."ordinarily i would agree, no need to know ethnicity but given the new laws promoting concealed carry or the most ridiculous of all carry in bars and church. when you have crazies with guns and they do stockpile thanks to republican lies about Pres. coming to take them away, the rise of militias of supremacist threats to federal officers (Bundy) and Pres. and the NRA with a little help from their friends get these license to kill laws SYG, i posed this question before why do we never hear about Black and Hispanics buying guns under new legal laws is it because they would be killed if spotted carrying??? yeah today we do need to keep track of who and where and what ethnicity's are loading up on wmd's.
admittingly when i started reading i thought is was designed to keep track of those of color who had guns but the timeline in the article suggest not so much as keeping an eye out for the right wing crazies, hence it's republicans crying foul if it were were what i thought first they would be in full support, just my opinion.
