Gun regulators propose emergency plan ...By James V. Grimaldi and Sari Horwitz
Friday, December 17, 2010 To stem the flow of guns to Mexico, federal firearms regulators are proposing an emergency requirement that certain gun dealers along the southwestern border report bulk sales of so-called assault weapons beginning as soon as January.
Dealers would be required to alert authorities when they sell within five consecutive business days two or more semiautomatic rifles greater than .22 caliber with detachable magazines, according to the draft obtained by The Washington Post. Semiautomatic rifles such as AK-47s and AR-15s are favored by drug-trafficking organizations fighting the Mexican government. emphasis added ***snip***
Under the plan, the ATF, which enforces federal gun laws and regulates firearm dealers, would send what is called a "demand letter" to dealers along the border asking them to report the multiple sales, ATF officials said.
Emergency approval would last six months, after which the requirement would end unless other action were taken, the draft states. Approval from the Office of Management and Budget "has been requested by Jan. 5, 2011," the document states.
The ATF is expected to publish in the Federal Register on Friday a notice about the plan, which would affect about 8,500 gun dealers. Although the ATF proposes that the rule would begin as early as January, comments about the proposed rule will be accepted for the next two months.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121606749.html Gun owners must speak up to stop long gun sales reporting requirement December 17th, 2010 10:12 am CTGun rights advocates in St. Louis and across the country must make their voices heard, to stop a flagitious new infringement on that which shall not be infringed. This is a further development of something discussed here a couple days ago: the possibility that in addition to the 42-year-old requirement to report multiple handgun sales (as part of the Gun Control Act of 1968), multiple sales of long guns (rifles and shotguns, in other words) would now have to be reported. At the risk of being accused of hyperbolic, "'Sky is falling' rhetoric," it is time to point out that the BATFE apparently is committed to imposing such a requirement, and to do so administratively, without even the pretense of Constutitionality provided by congressional authority.
According to the Washington Post, the idea is to take a smaller (and therefore apparently considered more politically viable) bite of the apple, by somewhat limiting the scope of the new regulations. Thus, the multiple long gun sales requirement would only apply to certain rifles (detachable magazine-fed, semiautomatic rifles above .22 caliber--so called "assault weapons," very broadly defined, in other words), and only gun dealers near the Mexican border would be affected.
***snip***
Note that this is being touted as an "emergency requirement." despite the fact that the campaign to use Mexican drug war violence as justification for more oppressive U.S. gun laws is at least two years old. What new development, one wonders, has turned this into an "emergency" priority? It's considered so much of an "emergency," apparently, that although they will seek comments, from the public and from other agencies that will be affected, for 60 days, but the BATFE is requesting permission to implement it by Jan. 5, 2011, or 19 days from now.
***snip***
By the way, the New York Times yesterday suggested another angle for this kind of regulation: presidential executive order:
With a more Republican Congress in the wings and Democratic lawmakers openly fearful of the gun lobby’s political clout, there is no expectation of courageous legislating to close the loophole. But executive order is another possibility.
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-st-louis/gun-owners-must-speak-up-to-stop-multiple-long-gun-sales-requirement 
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