Senator Lummis Demands Answers about ATF Attack on Second Amendment Rights

March 22, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is demanding answers about the Biden administration’s infringements on the Second Amendment rights of people in Wyoming. Senator Lummis and a group of 25 senators wrote a letter to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Acting Director Regina Richardson requesting an explanation for changes to the ATF’s handling of applications to create and own a firearm silencer. The ATF has been rejecting law-abiding Americans’ attempts to create and own a silencer, even though federal law has not changed, and the ATF’s own website acknowledges that federal law allows individuals to make a silencer.

“We in Wyoming care deeply about our Second Amendment rights. In a western state like ours, a gun is as much a tool as a shovel or an axe,” Senator Lummis said. “I am deeply opposed to unelected bureaucrats making extra-legal decisions to unilaterally keep folks from exercising their rights, and I expect the ATF to answer for its actions.”

Historically, the ATF has simply required law-abiding citizens to fill out a form and pay a fee before creating a firearm silencer for personal use. Now, the ATF is treating parts used for the assembly of a silencer as though they were already a silencer. This forces companies selling those parts to pay more in taxes, and forces the individual buyer to fill out more paperwork when registering a silencer. 

To read the full letter, click here

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