LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Empower Oversight, a whistleblower organization previously involved in representing IRS agents in the Hunter Biden case, is raising concerns about what it perceives as an “unconstitutional” power move by the Biden administration.
The group asserts that the administration is gearing up to regulate private gun sales by enacting mandatory background checks.
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In a letter directed to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, and published by John Solomon of “Just the News,” Empower Oversight disclosed information from two sources, indicating that the White House has instructed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATF) to carry out this directive.
More than a thousand pages of gun regulation.
According to the group, the BATF has crafted an extensive 1,300-page document supporting a rule that would effectively prohibit private firearm transactions among citizens without a background check.
Empower Oversight contends that such an action exceeds the authority of the executive branch, emphasizing that only Congress possesses the authority to institute such changes.
The law clearly states that background checks are not needed for private gun sales.
The Empower Oversight letter references a 1986 law explicitly forbidding background checks for private gun sales between individuals. It says that the engagement in the business of selling firearms “shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.” Thus, such persons do not need to register as an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee).
Constitutional violations are alleged.
Empower Oversight argues that a broad rule treating all private citizens similarly to federal firearms licensees would violate the constitutional separation of powers, granting legislative authority to Congress and mandating the President to execute the laws.
Additionally, they assert that such a rule would violate the Second Amendment which declares that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The group points out that President Joe Biden’s March 2023 Executive Order 14092 required the DOJ to clarify the definition of those engaged in firearm transactions and who needed to become FFLs. Biden said with no equivocation that his EO was to “move us as close as we can to universal background checks without new legislation.”
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Empower Oversight raises concerns about the BATF’s proposed rulemaking that was submitted to the DOJ which Garland approved in August of 2023. The draft rule, the letter says, was “interpreted by many to require that any private citizen who sells even a single firearm online might be required to register as an FFL.”
1,300 pages started out being 108 pages from the BATF.
According to economist and Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott, who wrote an op-ed in Newsweek in August, “Federal law explicitly prohibits the creation of a federal firearm registry, but through a proposed 108-page set of regulations published at the end of August by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATF), the Biden administration is trying to use the BSCA (Bipartisan Safer Communities Act) to implement universal background checks on all gun purchases and to track virtually everyone who obtains a gun.”
Lott says, “Previously, the federal government classified people as “gun dealers” – requiring them to get a license – if they sold guns “with the principal objective of livelihood and profit.” Now the language reads “predominantly earn a profit.”
Refining terms and definitions.
Lott continues, “The Biden administration considers you a gun dealer if you sell a friend a gun once and then discuss the sale of a second gun to them. Or if you sell one gun and keep any record of what you bought and sold it for. Or if you rent a space at a gun show, even if you aren’t selling guns (and anyone who has been to a gun show knows most tables at shows don’t sell guns). The list goes on, and the new regulations will cover virtually all gun sales and force all purchasers to go through a background check and let the administration complete its national gun registry.”
Lott tells Michigan News Source that the 108 pages of regulations proposed in August would make about 90% of private transfers have to go through a licensed dealer or a person would have to become a licensed dealer themselves which would require fees that they would have to pay.
Government targets guns from all sides.
However, Lott explains how the buying and selling of guns is under fire simultaneously from all sides. He said, “At the same time that Biden is redefining everyone as a firearms dealer, his zero-tolerance policy for paperwork typos is putting thousands of dealers out of business.”
Lott concludes, “They’re just trying to make it very difficult for people to be able to go and own guns for protection. And it’ll particularly hurt poor individuals. If my research convinces me of anything it’s basically poor minorities are the people who are most likely victims of violent crime who benefit the most from the opportunity to own a gun for protection. And those are the very types of people that these background checks put out of business.”
Whistleblowers request communications on new gun grab plans.
In the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the whistleblower group formally requests a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) for all records of communications between the DOJ, BATF and the White House that refer to the EO and the banning and regulation of the sale of firearms between private individuals.
New rules could lead to chaos and violence.
In addition to the unconstitutionality of the proposed directive, the whistleblower group also expresses apprehensions about potential conflicts that could arise from the planned power grab by the federal government.
They underscore the need to heed the lessons learned from the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs in the 1990s, warning that enforcing such a regulation could jeopardize ATF field agents tasked with engaging private firearms owners involved in constitutionally-protected sales.
Second Amendment also under attack in Michigan as groups meet to further anti-gun agenda.
Meanwhile, the Second Amendment is also under attack in Michigan with elected officials and student activists taking part in a two day virtual Gun Violence Prevention Summit that occurred on January 29th and 30th.
The event drew approximately 800 participants and brought together the two groups to deliberate on the legislative response to gun violence prevention measures implemented by the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year.
Lt. Gov. Democrat Garlin Gilchrist II gave opening remarks and expressed gratitude to the summit’s attendees, stressing the importance of collective action in breaking the cycle of gun violence in Michigan.
Attorney General Dana Nessel also appeared at the online event and expressed frustration at the preventable loss of lives in Michigan, emphasized her legal background and ongoing efforts within the legal system to reduce gun violence. She highlighted the significance of the recently passed legislative package which encompasses universal background checks, requirements for safe firearm storage, and red flag laws which take effect on February 13th.
