JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt today joined a 17-state coalition, submitting a complaint against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Acting Director of ATF. The coalition joined Morehouse Enterprises, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Owners Foundation in suing over the ATF’s unconstitutional rulemaking that would regulate firearm parts manufacturers.
“The Biden Administration and the ATF are attempting to regulate unfinished, non-functional firearms parts as if they were complete, assembled firearms. Further, the ATF is taking steps to create a national firearms registry with their proposed rulemaking – not on my watch,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “Missouri values the Second Amendment, and my Office has been steadfast in fighting for the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens in the Show-Me State.”
The rulemaking seeks to, among other things, regulate unfinished, non-functional parts as if they were complete firearms.
In addition, the complaint alleges that ATF’s rulemaking takes steps toward the illegal creation of a national firearms registry. It would require firearms retailers to keep all sales records beyond their current 20-year retention requirement and eventually turn them over to the ATF instead of responsibly destroying them. This threatens the privacy of every gun owner in the country.
The lawsuit states, “Under the Final Rule, ATF seeks to vacuum up even more records of gun sales, by mandating that no records of any gun sale (or even non-sales) may ever be destroyed, and that all records of all sales (and non-sales) must eventually be turned over to ATF for inclusion in its digital database of firearm sales.”
Joining Attorney General Schmitt are the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
A copy of the complaint can be found here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/complaint-with-states-7-27-to-file.pdf?sfvrsn=3271cbc8_2