Urgent Action

[Thors ~ Hammer]

YOUR URGENT ACTION IS REQUIRED ON BATFE REFORM BILL!!!

The House of Representatives will soon vote on a critically important NRA-supported bill!

H.R. 5092--the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006"--will improve BATFE's process for punishing the few FFLs who violate the law, and will establish guidelines for BATFE investigations. This bill was drafted in large part to address recent, blatant BATFE abuses at Richmond, VA-area gun shows highlighted in hearings before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. This legislation has passed out of committee and will be voted on in the full House during the week of September 18.

It is imperative that you contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge him or her to VOTE FOR H.R. 5092 when it is brought to the House floor! Additional contact information can be found using the "Write Your Representatives" feature at www.NRAILA.org.

Please be sure to contact your Representative, and urge your family, friends, and fellow firearm owners to do the same!

[Nitrox]

There isn't much meat with those potatoes. While I am certainly not for new laws I would like to know exactly what I am speaking out against. What will the newly established guidelines be? Any hidden agendas like '86? Link to the actual proposed bill?

[Bulldog1967]

There isn't much meat with those potatoes. While I am certainly not for new laws I would like to know exactly what I am speaking out against. What will the newly established guidelines be? Any hidden agendas like '86? Link to the actual proposed bill?

Here is HR 5092 in simpler form:

www.nraila.org/CurrentLegislation/Read.aspx?ITNDrop=2121-L

On April 5, the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security--Representatives Howard Coble (R-N.C.), and Bobby Scott (D-Va.)--joined forces to introduce H.R. 5092, the “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006.” This bipartisan bill is a critical first step toward finally reforming BATFE.

First and foremost, H.R. 5092 totally revises the system of administrative penalties for licensed dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms. Today, for most violations, BATFE can only give an FFL holder a warning, or totally revoke the license. This bill would allow fines or license suspensions for less serious violations, while allowing license revocation for the kind of serious violations that would block an investigation or put guns in the hands of criminals.

H.R. 5092 also clarifies the standard for violations-allowing penalties for intentional, purposeful violations of the law, but not for simple paperwork mistakes. Congress thought it had fixed this problem in 1986 when it passed the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, but the government has ignored that law-and has even argued in court that the 1986 changes were “without practical significance.”

The bill also improves the process by which BATFE imposes these penalties, notably by allowing FFLs to appeal BATFE penalties to a neutral administrative law judge, rather than to an employee of BATFE itself.

H.R. 5092 would change BATFE’s enforcement operations in several ways, from requiring the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice to review of BATFE gun show enforcement operations, to demanding that the Bureau establish clear investigative guidelines. Finally, the bill would focus BATFE’s efforts on violations of firearms, explosives, arson, alcohol and tobacco laws, rather than non-jurisdictional areas.

Please be sure to contact your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge him or her to cosponsor and support H.R. 5092, the “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Modernization and Reform Act of 2006!”

[Bryson]

Thank you for the heads-up!