A second Federal Appeals Court has ruled in favor of the Obama Administration in a case in which a gun dealer challenged the legality of the administration’s requirement of gun dealers in some states be required to notify the ATF about the purchase of multiple semi auto rifles within a 5 day window.
Gun dealers have been required to report the sale of multiple handguns in a short amount of time for some time now, but the rifle requirement is new.
The dealer’s claim holds that the requirement places an excessive burdens on gun dealers and could even be used to create a gun registry.
According to POLITICO,
A unanimous three-judge panel of the court rejected arguments that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives exceeded its authority in issuing the rule, violated Congressional prohibitions against a national gun registry and imposed an unreasonable burden on gun dealers. The decision, authored by Judge Patrick Higginbotham and joined by Judges Carolyn King and Edith Clement, tracks with and explicitly endorses a decision issued in May by a unanimous D.C. Circuit panel. That trio of judges also upheld the ATF rule against a similar challenge.
The requirement is seem as hypocritical by many, as it was the Obama administration which knowingly allowed dozens of these types of rifles to be smuggled into Mexico as part of the ATF’s “Fast and Furious” operation. Over 200 people, including a US Border Agent have been killed by those guns.
The judges on the panel were appointed by Reagan, Carter and GW Bush.
Source: By JOSH GERSTEIN, POLITICO