Members of Texas’ congressional delegation are calling on Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) to fight President Joe Biden’s gun control agenda.
Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Louie Gohmert, Pete Sessions, Van Taylor, Ronny Jackson, Lance Gooden, August Pfluger, Brian Babin, and Michael Cloud wrote a letter to the governor on Wednesday. The lawmakers warned Abbott that recent regulations that Biden has proposed are “threatening to make felons of countless honest Texans.”
“As you know, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) under President Biden is aggressively targeting gun owners, including our fellow Texans,” the lawmakers wrote. “Worst of all, the Biden Administration is carrying out these attacks on our Second Amendment rights through executive actions rather than legislatively, where it would be difficult or impossible to pass them. We write to offer our full support for any efforts you can take to ensure that President Biden’s destructive agenda does not infringe on Texans’ Second Amendment rights.”
The lawmakers highlighted two proposed rules that would, they say, take significant leaps toward creating a national gun registry and outlawing firearms currently legally owned by millions of Americans. They wrote:
ATF’s proposed rule entitled Definition of “Frame or Receiver” and Identification of Firearms would take a significant step toward a national gun registry by requiring Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealers to permanently maintain personal gun owner information and records of firearm transfer information including makes, models, and serial numbers. This proposed rule would also expand the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to apply to gun parts—not just to the frame or receiver of a firearm—contradicting statute and the clear intent of Congress with its repeal of the Federal Firearms Act’s regulation of gun parts and enactment of the Gun Control Act to regulate a single firearm part.
Further, ATF’s latest Proposed Rule entitled Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached “Stabilizing Braces” risks banning roughly 40 million pistols and AR15-style firearms by reversing over eight years of interpretive guidance and would do so without an act of Congress. The ATF’s proposed rule would intentionally redefine these firearms to be short-barreled rifles, thus allowing the ATF to charge Americans with a federal felony by simply possessing them.
In April, Abbot called for legislation to make Texas a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary State.” State lawmakers later introduced a bill that would bar state law enforcement from enforcing federal gun control laws enacted through executive order.
A number of other governors have signaled that they plan to resist Biden administration efforts to unilaterally enact stricter gun control laws. Earlier this month, Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) promised to “fight tooth and nail” to protect gun rights.
“The Second Amendment Preservation Act is about protecting law-abiding Missourians against government overreach and unconstitutional federal mandates,” Parson and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement. “We will reject any attempt by the federal government to circumvent the fundamental right Missourians have to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their property. Throughout my career, I have always stood for the Constitution and our Second Amendment rights, and that will not change today or any day.”