What the ATF’s proposed gun law reforms actually do

In response to President Trump’s executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives proposed an extensive regulatory reform package. It aims to reduce burdens on law-abiding citizens and businesses and clarify confusing requirements.

Several proposals have attracted significant attention, and most coverage has inaccurately portrayed the scope and intent of the rules. The public deserves a clear statement of the facts.

First, much of this package updates rules and procedures that in some cases haven’t been revised in decades. It also aligns agency practice with recent court decisions. Having clear, updated rules would prevent abusive enforcement practices — for example, shutting down legitimate firearms businesses for minor clerical infractions, which occurred during the prior administration — and allow ATF to focus attention where it belongs: fighting violent crime.

One often misrepresented proposed rule seeks to address what criteria disqualify someone from firearm ownership based on mental illness. When Congress passed the Gun Control Act in 1968, the law affected a narrow category describing people with severe, permanent intellectual disabilities — not the roughly one in five American adults diagnosed with some mental health condition each year.

Despite that narrow intent, the definition was broadened in the 1990s. For instance, if the Department of Veterans Affairs appointed a fiduciary to help a veteran manage benefit payments, that veteran was to be disarmed, even absent any other functional impairment. Over 200,000 veterans lost their firearm rights this way.

A similar problem existed at the Social Security Administration, resulting in the disarming of retirees and those receiving disability........

© The Hill