Crapo Joins Bill to Protect Law-Abiding Gun Owners and Hold ATF Accountable

Washington, D.C.--U.S Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) joined Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) to introduce legislation to enhance review fairness, speed, and transparency of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) background check and application processes for National Firearms Act (NFA) items.  The ATF Transparency Act will ensure law-abiding gun owners experience a fair and speedy application process when exercising their Second Amendment rights.

“Lawful gun owners should not be denied their constitutional right to own a firearm because of unchecked bureaucratic rulings,” Crapo said. “This legislation creates a transparent review and appeals process for those who have been improperly flagged by the ATF, giving these individuals the due process they rightly deserve.”

“The ATF’s huge backlog of applications is triggered by a burdensome, seemingly endless process that fails to allow citizens access to an appeals process in the event of a wrongful denial. The result: law-abiding Americans are prevented from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” said Risch. “As the Biden administration continues to create more and more hurdles for law-abiding gun owners, it is more than fair to demand the ATF stick to a strict timeline for reviewing applications and create an appeals process for rejected applicants. With the ATF Transparency Act, the ATF would be held to a higher standard that would require a faster, fairer process for firearm applications.”

The ATF Transparency Act has received support from Gun Owners of America and National Rifle Association.

The ATF Transparency Act would:

• Require the ATF to develop an appeals process to protect law-abiding Americans’ background checks from being wrongfully denied;
• Require the ATF to process applications within 90 days.  If the ATF fails to process the applications after 90 days, applications will be automatically approved; and
• Require reports by the GAO and DOJ on 1) the number of NFA items involved in unresolved background checks from 2014 to 2021 and outline recommendations to minimize unresolved background checks and 2) the extent of FBI involvement in background checks and require the ATF and FBI develop a joint agreement on the background check process.

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