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1 1 (February 5, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveogu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service nforming the IegisIative diebate since 1914 0 Updated February 5, 2024 Statutory Federal Gun Registry Prohibitions and ATF Record Retention Requirements On April 11, 2022, the Attorney General signed a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) final rule, Final Rule 2021R-05F, that includes a provision requiring gun dealers to retain transaction records for the entirety of their licensed activities, as opposed to the last 20 years of those activities. These records are to be submitted to ATF whenever dealers go out of business. Four provisions of statutory law prohibit a national registry of most, but not all, modern firearms. Two of these prohibitions set limits principally on ATF, while the other two set limits on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Final Rule 2021R-05F has raised questions about ATF record retention practices. Some gun rights advocates and Members of Congress contend that this rule exceeds ATF's legal authority and could be in contravention to two ATF- related registry prohibitions. GCA-NFA Firearmns Recordkeeping Two major federal statutes regulate commerce in and possession of firearms: the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The statutes assign implementation and enforcement responsibilities to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which in turn delegated these duties primarily to ATF, with the exception of the GCA background check provisions, which are administered by the FBI. The GCA requires anyone who engages in the business of manufacturing, importing, or dealing in firearms to be federally licensed. These licensees are known collectively as federal firearms licensees (FFLs). All firearms that are capable of accepting self-contained, commercially available ammunition are regulated under the GCA, in addition to certain devices (e.g., silencers) that also fall under the GCA definition of firearm. Under the NFA, a subset of GCA-regulated firearms (e.g., machine guns, short-barreled shotguns, silencers) deemed to be particularly dangerous are further regulated. The NFA imposes occupational taxes on FFLs who manufacture, import, and deal in NFA firearms, taxes on unlicensed persons making NFA firearms for themselves, and taxes on NFA firearms transfers to and among unlicensed persons. ATF maintains a centralized registry of NFA-regulated firearms held privately by unlicensed persons and publicly by nonfederal law enforcement agencies. This registry, the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR), does not include records on firearms held or controlled by the U.S. government. Congress prohibited the transfer of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986, to civilians, but machine guns lawfully registered for civilian transfer prior to that date remain transferable. There are no similar tax or registration requirements for GCA- regulated firearms that do not fall under the purview of the NFA. Several states do have licensing/permitting regimes that serve as the basis for state gun registries. Under the GCA, Congress authorized a decentralized system of recordkeeping allowing ATF to trace a firearm's chain of commerce, from manufacturer or importer to dealer, and to the first retail purchaser of record. FFLs are required to maintain firearms transaction records for a minimum of 20 years under previously promulgated ATF regulations, and to submit a minimum of 20 years of their most recent transaction records to ATF whenever they go out of business (27 C.F.R. §478.129). Final Rule 2021R-05F, which became effective on August 24, 2022, expanded this record retention to cover the entirety of an FFL's licensed activity. Permanent ATF Appropriations Lirmitation For 34 years, FY1979 through FY2012, Congress attached a proviso to the annual ATF appropriations that blocked a Carter Administration proposed rule, and any similarly proposed rule, that would have required FFLs to submit quarterly reports on firearms sales and dispositions. For FY2012, a word of futurity, hereafter, was included in this proviso, which indicates it too is intended to apply permanently (H.Rept. 112-284, p. 240). This proviso reads: Provided, That no funds appropriated herein or hereafter shall be available for salaries or administrative expenses in connection with consolidating or centralizing, within the Department of Justice, the records, or any portion thereof, of acquisition and disposition of firearms maintained by federal firearms licensees. (Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012, P.L. 112-55, November 18, 2011, 125 Stat. 552, 609.) Firearms Owners' Protection Act (FOPA), 1986 Under 18 U.S.C. §926, the Attorney General is authorized to prescribe the rules and regulations necessary to carry out the GCA. Section 6 of FOPA amended Section 926 to prohibit a registry of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions. The pertinent language of Section 926 reads: No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners' Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any

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