Sen. Cruz to introduce resolution blocking Biden gun control U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas speaks at the Texas Values "Faith, Family and Freedom Forum" in Sept. 2019. (Eli Imadali/Austin American-Statesman/TNS)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced on Thursday a Congressional Review Act Joint Resolution of Disapproval to block President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice from enforcing Biden’s latest gun control rules.
In a press release, Cruz’s office highlighted one of the Biden administration’s new rules that would redefine “‘firearm’ under federal law to not only mean a complete product, but also its individual parts, often included in a weapons parts kit.”
The release explained that Biden’s executive edict would force gun kits and gun parts to be regulated as fully functional firearms, making it illegal to see the products would a serial number or without the purchaser submitting to a background check.
Biden’s latest gun control push would also compel Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders to keep gun purchase records forever and eventually hand those records over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “in effect creating a national firearms registry.”
Prior to Biden’s latest gun control declaration, gun dealers were allowed to dispose of records after 20 years.
“For the past two years, we’ve seen crime rates skyrocket all across the country, aided by Democrats’ soft-on crime policies and left-wing district attorneys operating like progressive activists instead of law enforcement officers. Democrats would love nothing more than to shift the blame and stoke anti-gun sentiment, and create a permanent national gun registry in the process,” Cruz said in a statement. “By introducing this resolution, we’re pushing back—we want to stop the Biden administration from issuing the final rule expanding the definition of firearms and instituting a national gun registry, we want to stop the false narrative that links the rise in crime to ‘ghost guns,’ and firearms, and we want to protect law-abiding citizens who are exercising their Second Amendment rights.”
Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Braun (R-IN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are working with Sen. Cruz on the resolution.
The Biden administration has already compiled the records of nearly one billion gun purchases in the United States. The Firearm Owner’s Protection Act, which became law in 1986, bans the United States or any state from establishing “any system of registration of firearms, firearm owners, or firearm transactions.”
“Congress was explicit in the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act that federal gun registries are prohibited. Nevertheless, the Biden Administration and the ATF are determined to restrict Second Amendment rights,” Sen. Lee said in a statement. “The Biden Administration is willing to exceed legal authority, deliberately misinterpret the law, and ignore explicit prohibitions to enact its radical anti-gun agenda.“
